Siblings of the Sand
by ancient-relic
Summary: When Kagome shows up with her elusive Cell 13, she is the bearer of a few rather important secrets. One of them ties her to Gaara, and thus, Suna. The other, much more dangerous, keeps her forever on the run away from everyone and everything.
1. Prologue

**A/N: **This is a re-write of my original brain child. It's my first "real idea", even if it wasn't my first fic… and I just want to emphasize, right off the bat, that no matter what, I AM GONNA SEE THIS BABY THROUGH TO THE END. Yeah!

Now, I am proud to present to you this brand-new, edited, beta'd, re-written prologue to Siblings of the Sand. Another big thanks to _**elemental neko**_**,** for going over this chapter for me!

I decided that I wanted to make this story more of a crossover then it actually was. Everything's planned ahead this time... all I have to do is write.

There are many more familliar faces in the story this time around... a list for your reading pleasure: InuYasha, Miroku, Sango, Kagura, and Sesshomaru will all be making important appearances… there will be other, more minor characters making appearances too, but we'll get there when we get there. Also, our favourite baddy, Naraku, will show up; he plays an important role. As from the Naruto-verse, the Akatsuki, Jiraiya, the whole rookie nine, and Naruto's resident baddy, Orochimaru will be making appearances throughout the story.

You'll also be pleased to note that I've added in quite a few secondary pairings; none of which are cannon. The main pairing is Kagome/Naruto, but it's the only one that I'm gonna share~! More information on the pairings will be revealed in short interlude-chapters.

Last little tidbit of information regarding the revamp of SoS… it's looking to be approximately 55 chapters, if all goes according to plan. HOW EXCITING. And now… (drum roll, please) I am pleased to present the prologue of my new-and-improved-brain-child!

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**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto... or InuYasha...

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**Siblings of the Sand – Prologue **

**ancient-relic**

Kagome marched ahead of her team, her hands wound into her hair at the base of her neck.

"Where are you taking us, Kagome?" InuYasha grumbled from somewhere behind her, sound irritable, as always.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Kagome remarked, a sly grin hidden on her face by the face that she hadn't bothered to turn around to face him.

"Of course, Kagome… InuYasha wouldn't have asked you otherwise." Miroku stated simply, as if he was talking to little children.

InuYasha, 18, was the tallest of the group- stretching almost six feet tall. However, despite his height and age- he was probably the most immature of the group- the most childish.

Kagome was the youngest- 16, having passed the genin exam very young. However, she was just as strong as anyone else their age that Miroku knew.

Kagome and InuYasha were like yin and yang. If Kagome liked something, InuYasha hated it. He could only think of a few things that they actually both liked… ramen, and sword fighting. That was their weapon of choice.

InuYasha always had a way of bringing someone else down to his level… and Kagome was no exception. Once he began his favourite pastime- which was bugging the hell out of Kagome- then he was gone. So was she. The trick was to catch Kagome and keep her out of InuYasha's grasp before she got pissed. It ended up with a severely beaten InuYasha, and some nasty damage to the wildlife.

"Don't be fresh." Kagura reprimanded, smacking Miroku across the back of his head.

"Oww!" he moaned. Kagura hadn't smacked him that hard… but her nails were like steel. And he was pretty sure that there were four horizontal gashes dripping blood on the back of his head.

Kagome snickered from her place ahead of the group. Kagura-sensei always knew how to break the tension… but sometimes, things were just too far gone for her help.

"But InuYasha does raise a good point," Kagura continued, looking to the only other female on the team. "Where are you taking us? I hope it's nowhere that we shouldn't be going."

InuYasha and Miroku suppressed a shiver at the thought of the last time that Kagome had led them somewhere. They'd gotten lost, and ended up in a gay bar, where the boys had quickly been scooped up by some pole dancers.

"Relax. I know where I'm going. Nothing bad," Kagome grinned, flashing a thumbs-up over her head, and marching on.

"And this, coming from the girl with the world's worst sense of direction?" InuYasha muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes.

"Hey! I heard that." Kagome shouted, and stopped, brandishing a fist in InuYasha's direction.

"So she's got ears like a hawk, and a sense of direction like an ass." InuYasha continued to mumble. "Because _they_ have to get led around everywhere…"

"Why I oughta…" Kagome threatened, her eyes narrowing into a dark glare.

"Whoa there, Kagome-chan," Miroku said gingerly, placing his hands up meekly and stepping between InuYasha and where she was preparing to charge. "Aren't you taking us somewhere? We do want to get there as soon as possible, right?"

"Right…" Kagome sighed, turning away, rather disappointed that she didn't get to pound InuYasha. Continuing on, Kagome led her team off the path, and into the foliage that surrounded them.

"And where are we going again?" Miroku broke the silence, repeating InuYasha's first question.

"To Suna…" Kagome replied sharply, obviously fed up with the boys' nagging.

"What?" InuYasha exclaimed. "Why are we going back to that country?" he growled.

"So I can see my family, dumb-shit." Kagome snapped, turning to face him, making his stop walking abruptly.

InuYasha held back a 'meep' at the dangerous look on her face, and wisely shut his mouth. There was no arguing with Kagome when she looked like she did now… because arguing only brought a powerful smack.

"She's got you two so whipped," Kagura laughed from a tree, where she had jumped up to. Kagura was like the wind… but since they were traveling stealthily, she couldn't quite travel the way she wanted to. To be closer to the sky though, Kagura liked to keep to the trees when she could. She was like a monkey or something…

"Shut up." InuYasha grumbled, crossing his arms huffily. He hated the truth.

"Bondage, eh? Hmm… I've never really thought of Kagome like that. But it's interesting, that's for sure," Miroku thought out loud, earning him a smack, a punch, and a pinecone in the head, courtesy of his sensei.

"SHUT UP, PERV!" Kagome and InuYasha chorused. Right… that was the other thing that they agreed on… that he, Miroku, was the biggest pervert on the face of the planet.

"Way to be stealthy." Kagura grinned. "Weren't you heading for the secret entrance, Kagome? That'll be awfully hard, now."

"Heh…" Kagome grinned, blushing in embarrassment. "I'll get us in though… not to worry."

"I'm not worried," Kagura smirked right back, her red eyes flashing in amusement.

She and Kagome grinned some more, and the boys watched them intently. "So," Miroku whispered conversationally. "Have you figured out how come they can have conversations like that yet?"

"Nope." InuYasha replied. "But I have a theory… I think that it has something to so with smiling, eyes locked, and some other girly crap that we couldn't possibly begin to comprehend."

"Ah," Miroku said, rubbing his head. "Hey, wait up!"

The girls were already heading on without them, and Kagome had joined Kagura in the trees. InuYasha and Miroku leapt up to the branches with ease, and were right behind the girls in moments.

"Now's where we really have to be ninja," Kagome said sullenly. "Follow my lead." She didn't need to look back to know that the others were prepared to follow and copy every move that she made, so she continued on, increasing her pace.

* * *

Gaara was ready to bang his head on the nearest wall. Kankuro and Temari were bickering, and they had not stopped since they had left their house earlier that morning.

Of course, he'd never, _ever_, not in a million years, let anyone know that he was ready to bang his head. Because Gaara of the Sand did not go around banging his head.

Pausing a moment, Gaara had to wonder just where that thought had come from_. How uncharacteristic of me. _

Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Kankuro and Temari were paying him absolutely no mind whatsoever, as they continued arguing about something that he didn't care about. It quickly escalated into a full out glaring/staring competition, and he just had to draw the line.

"Cut it out. _Now._" He growled, not bothering to face them. He could practically smell their discomfort as he felt their eyes on his back. Temari was the first to speak.

"Sorry," she apologized, wringing her hands. It didn't matter that she was his sister… and it didn't matter that she was his _older_ sister, either. Gaara would kill her without a second thought. She knew it, and Kankuro knew it too.

It was always best not to bother Gaara… lest he fall into one of his _moods._

Kankuro was silent beside her, though as soon as Gaara started walking again, Temari immediately felt his eyes, and she glared at him only to find him glaring right back.

Gaara walked on, either oblivious, or just not paying attention. Temari was pretty sure that it was the latter.

However, she did not expect him to stop walking moments later, and she almost walked right into his gourd. "What? Why did you stop?" Temari asked, confused.

Gaara turned his head over his shoulder, and looked her dead on. His green eyes almost seemed hollow as he stared at her… and Temari fought back a shudder. What happened?

"Did you sense someone?" Kankuro asked, as if he had read Temari's mind.

Gaara did nothing… he only turned to face the east, where the little forest on the borders of the city sat. Trees and desert didn't sit well together, after all.

"There. Four figures… at least one of them is jounin." He stated, as he struggled to read their auras. It was handy skill he was quickly gaining talent at… though he suspected it was mostly Shukaku's influence.

Temari was wide eyed. How did he possibly know that? She couldn't sense any-

Her eyes widened further, if possible.

There it was- four huge energy signatures… how could she have missed it?

"Oh, god! He's right." Temari gasped, turning to Kankuro, who had a hand on Karasu.

"Can you tell if they're enemies?" Temari asked, turning back to Gaara.

He narrowed his black rimmed eyes for a minute, assessing the four auras. All he could tell was that they were distinctly familiar… as if he recognized them from somewhere.

The strangest part about them was their unique colours. Most people's auras were simple… not very colourful, and rather drab. However, he knew that he himself had a golden aura that licked around his frame like a fire.

Similarly, Naruto Uzumaki –an acquaintance who was a demon's host, like himself- had a rusty, almost orange-red aura that flared about him in a similar form. Was it because they both had a tailed beast inside of them? He wasn't sure.

Sasuke Uchiha, another member of Konoha (where Naruto resided) had a deep maroon aura- and Gaara was fairly certain that it had something to do with his heritage… since he possessed the Sharingan, and was a member of the Uchiha clan.

The four auras were very close now- and he could distinctly see the invisible shapes of the people in his mind… their auras almost giving him a template of sorts… though it was dark where the body was.

There were two girls… one was the jounin he sensed, and one was young and small. The other two people were both boys- both rather tall, and both older than the girl.

Their auras were strange… the oldest, (the jounin) had a strange white aura that had small amounts of red and gold that would appear and disappear with swirls and eddies. The boys were simple; it seemed… one brick red, and the other a royal purple.

Glancing at his brother, Gaara quickly compared the colours of the auras. Kankuro's was a darker purple, and it was almost black. Temari's aura was a pale yellow, with little bits of lavender and rose pink. It reminded Gaara of spring. He hated spring.

The last aura- the one of the smallest girl, caught his attention. Her aura was a dark blue- though it appeared black at first glance. However, there was what looked like lightning bolts of an almost aqua green that constantly flashed through her aura, of their own accord. It was nothing like the auras of the people that had multiple colours.

The jounin aura moved lightly, and curled around her form. Temari's moved gently, like flowers dancing in the wind. It was a rather disgusting comparison, but Gaara could think of nothing else.

The other thing that struck him as strange was the way her aura curled about her form- flickering like fire. It was he same as his aura, and the same as Naruto's aura.

"No. I can't say for sure… though there is no mal intent visible." Gaara stated matter-of-factly. Temari looked a little confused… but she played along. Whatever Gaara was seeing was probably going to turn into something that they would be able to use to their advantage.

"Secrecy. But no mal intent." Gaara said, crossing his arms. They were almost here… he'd wait.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" InuYasha grumbled.

"Shut up!" Kagome hissed- her voice high and panicked. "There are three people waiting for us!"

"So? Kill them. Or knock them, out, if you don't want to be extreme." InuYasha said, shrugging his shoulders as best as one could while tree-jumping.

"I can't do that!" Kagome wailed, coming to a stop on all fours like a cat on the tree. Kagura, Miroku, and InuYasha followed- one branch each.

"And why not?" InuYasha demanded, glaring at Kagome.

"They're her family." Kagura stated, when Kagome didn't answer.

"What?" Miroku asked, his eyes wide. InuYasha's face mirrored the shocked expression on Miroku's.

"You can't tell them. The might not remember me, you see." Kagome explained. "Promise you won't say a word."

InuYasha looked a little skeptical, but agreed. "I promise."

"Me too," Miroku said.

"Swear on your Tetsusaiga. And your Kazanna." Kagome said, glaring, her hands of your hips.

_Wow, she's really serious about this then,_ InuYasha thought, resting a hand on his beloved sword.

"We promise." The boys chorused, looking at Kagome grimly.

Kagura listened silently, sending her senses out towards Kagome's three siblings. She trained her mind to the girl's frequency, and was not too surprised at what she _'_heard'.

_Gaara thinks that the people who are coming are powerful… can we take on three chunin and a jounin? He said at least one jounin. This means that there's a possibility that there's more than one…_

_And what about the fact that he can't tell who they are, or anything? What if they're scouts for an invading force? And if they're all jounin… _

She was freaked out. Kagura exited the girl's mind as silently as she had slipped in, and tuned back in to her students' conversation.

"Ready?" Kagome asked, looking expectantly at Kagura. Kagome was the only one who knew about Kagura's Kekkei Genkai… because she had helped Kagura discover it.

It was some kind of clan thing… not unlike the Sharingan. Unfortunately, her clan had wiped itself out, and with it went virtually all records of her special ability. So she and Kagome simply called it her 'Silent Mind' technique. The strangest part about it was that though Kagura had to initiate the mental contact, she and Kagome could have conversations… though Kagome hadn't the same power as Kagura. She had her theories… but they were all rather loose.

"Yes. And try not to scare them too much, you three." Kagura grinned. If it was one thing that she knew- it was that the team liked to be exuberant.

Kagome, Miroku, and InuYasha sent her almost identical grins, before dashing off, leaving Kagura standing on the tree. She had to report to the Kazekage's tower, now that she had actually come back into the area.

* * *

Gaara scowled. The fourth one- the jounin, had disappeared. Where she went? He didn't know. And he was pretty sure he didn't care. But it just might turn out to be a problem. And he hated problems. Though… they were easily corrected, and quite often done so with a well directed and executed blow.

The three auras bounced about some, before landing with three silent thuds behind the foliage. They were deep enough in the trees that he couldn't see anything… but he knew that they were there. He could sense them.

"They're here!" Temari whispered. Her hand rested gently on her fan, as Kankuro still had his own one on Karasu. Gaara fisted his hand as he uncrossed his arms, and the plug on his gourd vanished. Sand eagerly trickled out… though he wasn't entirely sure if he would need it or not. He wasn't in the mood for trouble. Perhaps he could leave and let Temari and Kankuro take care of it?

All thoughts of walking away left his mind when the three walked through the foliage, and Gaara felt his eyes open minutely. There was the young girl, who looked to be no older than he was, walking at the point of the formation.

Long, shimmering black hair that reached her knees was tied up in a braid at the back of her neck, and it flicked back and forth as she walked, like a tail. Simple black hakama were tucked into dainty little boots at her feet- though the boots were studded with what looked like strange golden armor.

Her hakama were tied by a golden obi, and it dangled almost as long as her hair. Her pants were slung gently over her slightly tanned skin, and her top stopped short enough to give Gaara a glimpse of a little dangling jewel hanging from her belly-button. A piercing.

Her top was a deep maroon, and it hugged her lithe form like a second skin, stretching up to wrap around her neck, stopping just short of her chin. It was sleeveless, and there was what appeared to be gold threaded fishnet over top. Black arm warmers stretched up to just above her elbow, and were secured with a golden band. It tapered elegantly down to her wrist on each arm, and was bound around her middle finger with a golden ring.

The boys were not so elegantly dressed, and they flanked the girl on either side. The one with the red aura was wearing red clothes to match- red hakama, an open red haori that had the ends tucked into the ends of his haori, and was protected only by a black fishnet shirt underneath that. He went barefoot, and there was a sword in a glistening ebony sheath resting at his left hip. He wore his headband like a bandanna, and it covered the top of his silver hair, which trailed down to his mid back. Golden eyes glared defiantly at the other group of three, daring them to say something.

The other one- with the purple aura had also dressed in purple- and it was not that different from the red one's attire. Purple hakama were tucked neatly into the standard black sandals, though silvery shin guards covered most of the sandal and his calf. A three quarter sleeve haori was bound closed with a short silver sash, the black material highlighted by purple edging and silver stitching. Silver wrist guards protected his wrists as well, and the palms of his hand were covered with a deep purple fabric, the same as his hakama. Short black hair was pulled into a small ponytail at the back, and black bangs framed inquisitive purple eyes. His headband was tied around his neck.

Gaara watched the girl silently. She seemed to be the leader, he noted. However, that was rather strange, because she was obviously the youngest. However, even if not physically, she seemed to be the strongest. If he could base strength on her strange aura. The strangest part about the group was their headbands. The boys wore Suna headbands- though the girl did not appear to wear one at all.

"Beautiful!" Temari and Kankuro sighed, Temari at the boys, Kankuro at the strange little girl. She looked at Kankuro strangely, and Gaara caught a flicker of disgust pass across her face. The boy in purple looked rather pleased, though the one in red huffed, and crossed his arms.

"Who are you, and what is your business here?" Gaara asked, looking to the group. Temari and Kankuro flanker their brother in the same way that the boys flanked the girl, and they stood, facing each other, but Kagome and Gaara waiting for the other person to make a move first.

"Is it not customary to state your name first?" the girl questioned, her voice light. Gaara sensed the real statement beneath her words, carefully masked in her tone. _What do you want? And what do you think that __**you**__ are going to do to __**us**__?_

"Gaara." He said, and pointed at Temari and Kankuro in turn, saying their names as he pointed.

Kagome nodded, silently laughing. Not one of them recognized her! _Gaara really has grown up,_ she sighed._ But I must wonder what has happened to him to make him so cold!_

"My name is Kagome. This is my team; InuYasha, and Miroku. Team 13, third generation shinobi to Sunagakure."

Gaara was rather surprised. Five years ago, they had implemented a strange new way of judging the years of teams- by calling them through generations. He himself was in the fifth generation. So they were third generation? How old did that make them, then?

"They wear the mark of Suna. You do not." Gaara stated, his eyes narrowing at the girl. There was still something not right about her, and it was bothering him.

"I have many headbands… from many villages, Gaara-san. Instead of wearing them all, or pledging my allegiance to one place, I keep to myself. After all, this village exiled me when I was much younger."

"Then you are a missing-nin?" Kankuro asked, mystified.

"No. I was too young at the time to be of any threat. Rather, they just tricked me into leaving, and then forbade me to re-enter. Until now, that is." Kagome explained, her voice, and face remaining emotionless.

_Strange…_ Gaara stared at this girl some more, before continuing on in his interrogation.

"And your age?" he asked.

"We are not required to give you this information, you know." Kagome said, looking rather solemn.

"Do you have passports or documents of legal entry?" he responded, countering her statement easily.

"No."

"Then you do."

"Miroku and I are eighteen." InuYasha spoke up, his voice rather gruff. "Kagome is sixteen, and a little pip-squeak."

"Shut up, Inu-baka!" Kagome growled, turning and glaring at InuYasha. "I'm doing the talking!"

"I still don't see why you get to do all the fun stuff. You know I'm only here for one reason." InuYasha stated.

"You may be looking for a fight, but sensei told me we have to be diplomatic. We don't want you-know-who alerted of our presence!" Kagome whispered, having the sense to lower her voice.

"Whatever." InuYasha shrugged.

"Kagome has a point," Miroku pitched in. "We don't want any trouble here."

Gaara shifted, and Kagome turned again. "Please excuse my outburst." She apologized.

"No worries." Temari grinned, her attention focused on the boys, rather than Kagome. Kagome glared, but Temari didn't catch it.

"And your rank?" Gaara stated, leveling his stare at Kagome, who turned her attention back to him.

"Well, Inu-baka and Miroku are chunin… and though technically I'm still only a genin, I could beat them any day. They know it too, you see. So we may as well all be chunin. I don't see as how it matters, though." Kagome rambled a bit, shrugging her shoulders.

Gaara remained silent for a minute, and that minute was all it took. A smoke bomb suddenly obscured their vision, and Gaara immediately sensed several unfamiliar auras of several masked ninja rush into the area, and surround Kagome, InuYasha, and Miroku.

Was this another one of his father's sad attempts to kill him? Perhaps not- as no one came after him. Gaara merely stood with his arms folded, watching the auras dance and wave as faint sounds of fighting reached his ears, along with a string of curses from who he suspected to be InuYasha.

* * *

Kagome cursed to herself. Why hadn't she seen this coming? She knew that as soon as she stepped foot in Suna again that they'd be after her again.

Only, it wasn't supposed to have happened this fast.

"InuYasha! Miroku! Are you guys all right?" Kagome yelled, rubbing the grit from her eyes and turning around.

"Damn son of a bitch! What in the hell do they think they're trying to pull! Frigging, no good crap-ass sons of bitches!" InuYasha swore violently.

Kagome reached out into the grime, and grabbed InuYasha, and tugged him towards her. "Shit! One of them nasty little buggers has got me!" He roared. Kagome grabbed his fist before it hit her, and slid back a few inches.

"It's me, dumb-shit." Kagome grumbled, and InuYasha blinked and looked at her sheepishly.

"Right. I knew it all along."

"Liar. Where's Miroku?" Kagome asked, looking past InuYasha and into the smoke, but seeing nothing.

"Right here, Kagome!" Miroku chuckled, and Kagome felt a hand of her butt.

"PERVERT!" Kagome shrieked, spinning and smacking Miroku across the face.

"Oh Kagome-chan…" Miroku chided. "I was merely using some happy thoughts to help myself find a way back to you, and was rewarding myself in a job well done!"

"No excuses." Kagome growled, her eyes flashing with anger. "Now listen. There's something that I have to check on real quick- do you think that you guys can handle these guys? There's six or seven."

"Hell yeah!" InuYasha laughed. "Don't underestimate us now, Kagome."

"InuYasha's right, Kagome. We know what we're doing. Leave everything to us."

Kagome grinned at her boys, before nodding. "All right then. They're all yours- two closing in at seven-o-clock." With that, she disappeared leaving eddies of the smoke bomb swirling in her wake.

* * *

Kagome grinned from her spot in the trees. The Suna nin sent by her father were circling the cloud of dust that was slowly dispersing. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro were watching from a little ways off, all looking rather interested.

Kagome kept her eyes trained on Gaara for a moment longer, and she smiled as he looked up and met her eyes with a fierce glare. _Sure, Gaara-nii. Whatever you say,_ Kagome thought. It was like he was projecting that he wanted to see her fight, and that she should be down there helping her comrades fight._ But what you don't know is that they can handle themselves._

Kagome's eyes narrowed though, when she caught sight of a figure clothed in black, a few rooftops away. He was setting up some kind of contraption, and it was aimed at her siblings.

_This is…?_ Kagome wondered, looking down to Gaara, who was staring at her curiously now. Temari and Kankuro were not paying attention- because the smoke had cleared, and Miroku were standing back to back, with the two ninja flat on the ground, having been thrown though the air, thanks to Miroku's Kekkei Genkai.

Kagome looked down at Gaara one more time, and watched as he sensed the person that she'd just been staring at. Glaring up at Kagome, Gaara watched as she nodded, winked, and disappeared with a ripple of wind.

* * *

Kagome landed silently behind the ninja who was setting up some kind of launching device… and watched for a moment before clearing her voice.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kagome asked, crossing her arms, and standing stiff-legged behind the nin, who froze.

Turning around, he was surprised that the voice only belonged to a little girl. Gaining confidence in the fact that it wasn't someone dangerous, he grinned.

"I don't have to tell you anything, little girl. Now, run along, before I kill you." He chuckled, standing straight up and cracking his knuckles. "Or, we could always have a little fun before you leave- you look awfully flexible."

Kagome's glare darkened and she reached into a little pouch that was hanging at her lower back. Pulling out a little fang, she spun it around on her finger, before saying anything.

"Who is that contraption aimed at?" Kagome asked, looking up at the man again. However, before the man could say anything, Kagome moved like lightning, and grabbed his left arm while flipping him over her shoulder, and pinned him to the ground with a foot in his back, right between his shoulder blades.

With a sickening crack, his left arm gave, and Kagome let it flop uselessly to his back as he cried out in pain. "ARRGH- MY ARM!"

"Well?" Kagome asked, grinning down. She could feel **his** consciousness arousing at the smell of pain, and she knew that she was going to have to finish quickly before he was awake.

"G-Gaara of the Sand." The man stuttered, mumbling as best he could with his face pressed to the roof tiles.

"Gaara?" Kagome asked, not expecting the target. "Who sent you?" she questioned, pressing her foot down onto the man's broken arm, right above his wrist.

"AAH! T-the l-lord Kazekage did. It's his next attempt at assignation… testing the boy's limits. He wanted it done long-distance this time." The man said, his words becoming stronger the more he spoke.

Kagome was floored. How could her father order his youngest son to be assassinated? But then again… it hadn't stopped him from exiling her, and she was his second youngest.

"HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?" Kagome growled, getting angrier and angrier the more that the man spoke.

"T-ten y-y-years" the man stuttered, thrown at the anger that was both shining through in her voice, and in her posture. He could practically feel it in waves.

Kagome moved off the man, standing there as he struggled to rise. Her eyes were flickering violently from green, to blue, and they did so for a moment longer, before finally settling on blue, and darkening to almost black.

"_YOU!"_ Kagome growled, and the man froze in his hand seals. He'd been preparing to flee.

"_You can tell my father that I know what he's up to. Tell him that I'm not pleased- not in the slightest. And tell him that if he ever, EVER, harms my little brother again in any way, shape, or form, I will hunt him down, torture him, and kill him. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"_

The man gulped. The girl in front of him wasn't the same girl that had startled him when she first appeared- now, her hair was whipping about her form eerily, falling out of the neat braid. Her eyes were solid black- with no pupil, iris, or white. Black rings circled her eyes in a strange circle with a point, and her face was slowly becoming more and more sharp and angular. Her aura was whipping around her, through the man couldn't see it. However, it lashed out at his form, scratching his bare skin, and drawing blood. He didn't want to stay to find out what was happening, so he immediately ran.

Kagome placed a paper bomb on his back as he ran, and began marching, slowly and deliberately back to where her comrades were waiting. He was awake now- and someone was going to pay for that.

* * *

InuYasha grinned at the five men that still surrounded him, and placed a hand on Tetsusaiga. "Are you all sure that you really want to do this?" He teased, his teeth glinting.

The men didn't respond… and InuYasha flicked his blade out of the sheath. "Ready Miroku? Flip them all into the air, and I'll blow them into smithereens."

"Aye-aye!" Miroku laughed, and placed his hands together like he was praying. A moment later, he brought his hands apart, and the purple cloth began to unwind itself from Miroku's hands.

"Four-o-clock first." He said, pointing his right hand at the man, who stood waiting there uncertainly.

With a flick of his wrist, a great whoosh of air rushed through the forest, and began sucking into Miroku's palm. The man, caught totally off guard, was lifted right off the ground, and went hurtling through the air towards the two.

Then, Miroku closed his fist, and pointed his left hand at the man, and the winds changed direction, being pushed away from him instead of towards. The man was thrown high into the air, Miroku keeping his hand aimed at the man, who rose higher and higher on the air current.

InuYasha bent low to the ground, and drew out Tetsusaiga, rusty and nicked. "That's not going to do anything!" Temari yelled over the roar of the wind, watching with her eyes wide.

InuYasha smirked at her, and winked, doing his best to look sexy. It worked, and Temari blushed violently. With a flash, the blade was transformed into a huge curved sword, with an explosion of fur around the hilt. "Oh, my god!" Temari gasped, looking at Kankuro. He looked ready to wet himself.

With a mighty lunge, InuYasha propelled himself into the air, and jumped into Miroku's air current. It lifted him higher and higher, until he met up with the ninja who'd been tossed like a rag doll.

"Time to meet your maker," InuYasha grinned, and brought Tetsusaiga down in a quick sloping arc. The man was sliced in half- though InuYasha's blade never touched him. Instead, a single arc of yellowish light passed through his body, and disappeared after hitting his target.

"NEXT!" He roared, still up in the air.

With his hand still holding InuYasha in the air, he pointed his right hand at the next ninja, and quickly aimed at him, pulling him close, and blowing him upwards. InuYasha was falling now, and Miroku used his right hand to pull him down faster. InuYasha met up with the man who was going up on his way down, and landed with a thud, as four body parts from the two men he had halved landed around him.

"Nice!" InuYasha grinned, looking at Miroku. He grinned back. "Now, who's next?" he growled, looking at the men who were standing, kunai in hand, shivering.

"_They're mine._" Kagome growled, appearing before Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro, her back to them.

"K-Kagome?" InuYasha asked, faltering. "What- he-?"

Kagome nodded. Gaara watched her back curiously, but remained where he stood. What had she disappeared to do? The assassin… He was gone now, he noted. Did she know that he was after him, and not her?

Her hair was blowing wildly, having completely fallen out of her braid. Miroku clapped his hands together, and the purple cloth bound about his hands again.

Kagome's right hand twitched, and Gaara looked down to see something small get engulfed in a bright green chakra, before it grew into a gleaming, black sword. The hilt looked liked sapphire, with a rounded end, where a tattered string was held through a small incision. The blade itself looked like polished carbon, with strange silver carvings in it- too small to make sense of.

The blade was almost as long as Kagome was tall, and its tip rested on the ground. Kagome lifted it up, and pointed it at the closest ninja. "_Ready to die?_"

With a motion that was so fast he almost missed it, Gaara watched as she sped forwards, and completely disappeared. Her aura was moving too fast to track, and his eyes couldn't keep up with her speed.

Then, she re-appeared facing Gaara, her blade shining with blood. However, no one had moved except her. Her eyes were hidden by her hair, still blowing about her body in the after currents that Miroku's wind had created.

"What the hell?" Kankuro yelled, confused. "Nothing-"

His statement was cut short as the three men still standing, and the two on the ground, were slashed open, limbs falling off, until their throat split, and they drowned in their blood, crumpling to the ground.

With a flick of her wrist, the blade was gone. Gaara noted the strange bracelet that seemed to appear at her wrist- with a little fang hanging from it, seemingly stained a brackish red. Was that…?

Kagome was silent a moment longer, before she looked up at Gaara, her eyes fading from blue back to a green that seemed annoyingly familiar. Smiling, she winked again, before turning to InuYasha and Miroku, who were standing waiting.

"Kagura-sensei is on her way. Our time spent here is complete." Kagome said, lowering to one knee beside the boys, who mimicked her in the same triangular position that they had entered the clearing in.

A woman appeared out of nowhere, and landed with a small cloud of dust in front of the formation, on one knee. Then, in complete synchronization, they jumped into the trees, and sped away. Gaara blinked, and their auras disappeared.

Kankuro was the first to speak, looking at the dead bodies that littered the clearing. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"

**tbc**

* * *

******EDITED: 05/12/11**  



	2. Cell 13

**Siblings of the Sand – Chapter One**

**Cell 13**

**ancient-relic**

Gaara stared at the hole in the foliage where the strange, short girl had disappeared off to. Where did she come from? And those other two?

Then, of course, there was the strange sensei that he couldn't for the life of him remember… What a strange group.

Gaara shook his head, ridding those thoughts from his head. They were far enough away now that he couldn't even sense their auras.

"Gee, they move fast." Kankuro said, narrowing his eyes at the same blackness in the trees that Gaara was staring at.

"How do you figure that?" Temari said, sarcasm overflowing from her voice and into her posture as she placed her hands on her hips.

Kankuro was either very good at ignoring his sister, or was completely ignorant. Gaara figured it was both.

"I mean," he waved his hands at the wreckage that they had left behind. "Look at this! Those three are powerhouses. And all the while, they moved and fought, in like, perfect synch!"

Temari sighed, and turned away from the blood. "I know. And while I was watching them, I had this really weird feeling. That this was some kind of routine. And that they hadn't really…_ tried._" She struggled to find the right word.

"And don't even get me started on that macho chick!" Kankuro laughed. "Now _that,_" he grinned, "was one sexy girl. What kind of kunoichi have you ever come across who can fight like that and look so good surrounded by blood?"

Temari looked at Kankuro with a disgusted look on her face. "Pig! How can you think about things like that with such carnage falling all around you?"

"Eh…" Kankuro shrugged. "I guess it's a guy thing. I mean, look at Gaara!"

"Gaara's _different_." Temari said, stressing the word.

Gaara turned his eyes on her, a fierce glare catching her by surprise and making her look like a deer caught in the headlights.

"And what," he said, "is that supposed to mean?"

"Ah!" Temari started. "Well, it's just that…"

Kankuro looked at his sister with a smile. She'd been asking for it. He decided that she'd suffered enough, so he stepped in.

"Us guys." He said, sounding quite pleased with himself, "Aren't bothered by a little bit of blood. We have priorities- which is why we can think about… other things, while such… _bloody_ things are happening around us."

Gaara narrowed his eyes further at his brother. _What crappy reasoning…_ "That has nothing to do with it. You can only think about _things_, because you have a one track mind." He said, turning on his heel and walking away.

"But the girl… she has grabbed my interest." He tossed over his shoulder, waiting for his siblings to catch up as he distanced himself from them, and the carnage. This would need to be reported to Baki.

"What…?" Temari said, looking at Kankuro, who wore an identical mixture of shock and horror on his face. Similar thoughts were running through both of their heads.

_Gaara… interested in a __**girl**__?_

* * *

Kagome moved through the trees with ease behind Kagura, as she leapt from branch to branch.

_I wonder what Gaara-nii is thinking about now. Is it me? Does he remember?_ Kagome mused, her heart telling her that she should turn around.

She didn't though, because she knew better.

They had killed Suna shinobi, even if they were the ones sent to eliminate Gaara. That was enough to send a team out and after them, until they were either caught, or killed.

And what about her father? Had he gotten her message? _At least if he failed, he wouldn't see another minute._ Kagome thought darkly, thinking about the little paper bomb that she had placed on his back. It had a timer, and was due to go off any minute. She sighed.

Miroku and InuYasha exchanged looks while they watched Kagome sigh ahead of them. Something was bothering her- that much was obvious. She wasn't being the usual chatterbox that she normally was…

* * *

"M-m-m-my Lord!" the man panted, dashing into the Kage's Office, knocking over a pile of paperwork with the motion.

The man sitting at the desk looked up rather irritably, and spoke in a quite voice. The day had been long, and it wasn't even over yet. Mildly, he wondered how his son disposed of his newest plan against his life.

"The ninja you sent to dispose of Gaara-san." The ninja said, wheezing. "He has returned!"

The Kage looked at his messenger with wide eyes. A long-range attack had worked? He was almost certain that something like that would have been rather simple to dispose of, considering Shukaku's aura-sensing ability.

Rising from his seat at the desk, he asked, "Where is he now?"

"Dying on the floor in the front hall. You _must_ come quickly!" the ninja ushered.

"Do not think to order me around." He growled, and quickly disposed of the lesser ninja with a well-aimed kunai.

The man crumpled soundlessly to the ground, and a waiting maid came in to carry the body away. The Kazekage swept out of the office, leaving the girl to her business, as he moved down to the front hall.

He was baffled. How could he have succeeded _and_ failed? Was Gaara still alive? Or was he dead? And what about his eldest children, Kankuro and Temari?

Sure enough, he reached the front hall to find a man crumpled on the floor, surrounded by medic nin, and others who had been in the area at the time.

"Remove yourselves from this man at once!" he commanded, as he strode forward. Not daring to contradict his authority, they moved as he moved to the man's side, and peered down at him.

"What has happened?" he asked, rather curious. His arm was broken, and he was bleeding from several lacerations on his arms and other open skin. He had his eyes squeezed shut, and he coughed up blood before speaking at all. Even then, it was in an undecipherable rasp.

"S-she was t-the-re." he mumbled.

"Who?" he demanded.

"A strange girl…" he coughed. "Short, but strong."

The Kage paused. Short but strong? Not much to work with. The ninja continued after hacking up some blood.

"G-green eyes, b-b-blue black hair. S-she wasn't pleased with what her father was doing to Gaara." He paused and coughed up some more blood, took a shuddering breath and continued. "S-she stated she would h-hunt her father down and t-t-torture him before killing hi-him if…"

The Kazekage narrowed his eyes at the man as he struggled to breathe for a moment. He looked right back up at him with wide, terrified eyes, as if he was scared to repeat what the girl had told him.

"Continue!" The Kazekage barked, glaring at the man at his feet.

The man took a deep breath, and spoke as clearly and fluently as he was able to. "She said that she would hunt, torture, and k-kill her father if she ever found out that she was trying to hurt her little brother again."

The Kazekage was silent. Everyone held their breaths as they stared at the two men in the center of the room. Not many of them could comprehend the truth behind the ninja's words… so none knew quite what to think of it.

However, the Kazekage knew what the man was talking about. He was talking about his fourth child, Kagome. He had banned her after his experiment failed several years after she was born.

Taking the work that had turned out positive; he had sacrificed his wife, and successfully created Gaara, a year after Kagome's testing failed. Kagome, her team, and her jounin sensei, Kagura, had disappeared several years ago, off the radar of all ninja communities.

The Kazekage figured that someone had finally killed them… but apparently, that was not the case. The four were well and thriving. However, a sudden fizzling noise startled him, and he looked down at the man on the floor.

His eyes were glazed over, and half rolled into his head. He was dead. Smoke was rising from beneath him, and the Kazekage stepped backwards. _That devil child!_ He cursed, quickly casting a substitution jutsu with the nearest person… a lowlife who was delivering the mail.

With a shuddering boom, a small explosion ripped through the room, sending a heat wave and a blast of smoke. The roof above, from his favourite meeting room, caved in, burying the bloodied remains of everyone who was unfortunate to get caught in the direct path of the blast.

Glancing disdainfully at the bag of mail that he still had in his hand, the Kazekage grabbed a letter that was addressed to him. It was accented with a wild scent that could not be described… and he knew immediately that it was from Kagura.

Dropping the bag down on the front hall desk, he was about to walk away, when Gaara, Temari and Kankuro walked into the office, wearing concerned looks. For the most part, anyhow… Gaara was most often the exception. And again, in this case, he was.

"Oi!" Kankuro hollered. "What happened here? Looks like some dropped a bomb on you."

Temari whacked him upside the head. "Sorry for the interruption, father…" she apologized. "We were coming to report several deaths to Suna nin that we witnessed, when we saw your office go up in smoke."

"Deaths?" the Kazekage inquired, tucking the letter into the folds of his sleeves. Could his day get any better?

"Yes." Gaara spoke up then, taking a step towards his father with narrowed eyes. "Three nin, all about our age, popped through the border in an unguarded area. Though they claimed to be from Suna, when provoked, they killed several Suna ninja who were… going about their business."

Kankuro jumped in. "Yeah! They just slaughtered them like it was nothing. And when that girl, Kagome came with that weird blade and-"

"I have heard enough." His father cut him off. "Are you three on a mission?" he asked. "Where is Baki?"

"Here, my lord," Baki replied, materializing at the Kazekage's elbow.

"Good. Whatever else you had planned… forget. Your mission… above any and all else… Track down Cell 13, and kill them. Every single one of them- including the jounin… And I want their bodies brought back as proof."

"Wh-what if we can't kill them?" Temari asked, nervous at the thought. If her suspicions were correct, then they'd be formidable opponents.

"Then bind them, wound them… poison them… do whatever you must to bring them back to Suna. _I _will kill them here." The Kazekage answered.

"But… why?" Kankuro asked, clearly puzzled.

"They are suspected criminals… for high treason, and for killing several Suna ninja. Beyond that… well." He laughed lightly. "The list goes on. They are fugitives… wanted dead or alive."

Gaara stared at his father. Something was not right. Lots of things were not right.

There was something about that girl, Kagome, who was not right. There was something about her teammates, and her sensei that was not right. There was something in the way that she moved… the way that she fought… the way that she killed. There was something strange in her aura… and something in her voice… and something in her eyes. There was something strange about that girl… and everything and everyone that she represented.

Something strange…

And now, his appearance had ruffled his father's feathers. Something about her was bothering him. And what about that letter that he had hidden? Gaara could see faint aura residue… from that girl's sensei.

Something was not right. Lots of somethings were not right. In fact, everything was wrong. And with a last, spite-filled glance at his so-called father, Gaara turned his back on the man, and walked out of the crumbling building, vowing to get to the bottom of things.

_**You know, that's an awful lot of somethings… for such a simple-minded killer, **_a voice stated suddenly, piping up from somewhere between his ears.

Gaara resisted the wave of blood lust that rushed over him with the presence of the great tanuki in his mind.

_You speak in riddles, youkai._ Gaara responded, clenching his teeth together. If Shukaku were somehow able to override his mind (aka, distract his thoughts) then he would certainly forget his task. His _vow_.

_**I know what you are up to, little human. I will stop you. And then, I will kill you, for keeping me imprisoned in here.**_ Shukaku threatened.

Gaara mentally scoffed._ You keep saying that. And yet it never happens. You will not gain control of this body again._ Gaara willed, forcing his anger into a drill shape in his mind, and forcing it through Shukaku's bloodlust like a nail through wood._ Do not forget whose body this is. I have control._

_**That will not last long, little human. Remember that when you are on your deathbed. And remember that when you cannot solve your little problem.**_

Gaara stood silently, a little ways down the path leading away from the Kage's office, waiting for his brother, sister, and teacher. Shukaku's presence faded from his mind, and Gaara felt the bitter red leaving. His eyes cleared, and he saw Temari and Kankuro rushing to meet him, with Baki strolling leisurely behind.

"We have to gather our things, and leave immediately." Temari said, repeating orders that her father had given them.

_It's not like I need to pack much anyhow._ He thought grudgingly. Turning on his heel, he watched as Temari, Kankuro, and Baki continued walking.

"I'll meet you at the house." He said, not waiting to see if they heard him or not. With a wave of sand, he disappeared. He had to visit the library.

* * *

Kagome sighed for the umpteenth time that day, as she lounged in the shade under a tree, well away from the fire. It was something that woke _him_ up… being near an open flame. And it wasn't like the cold bothered her, either. Because _his_ element was fire, she wasn't often cold. That was why she wore what she wanted, whenever she wanted- the cold was never a problem.

Miroku looked over to Kagome from his seat at the fire, where he was whittling sticks away that would be great for cooking the fist that InuYasha was hunting.

"Kagome-chan," Miroku said, putting down his kunai and branch, and walking over to where she was sitting beneath a tree. "It is very clear to me, and everyone else, that something is bothering you."

"Don't worry about it, Miroku. It's no big deal." Kagome replied, twisting her hair over her shoulder, and beginning to re-braid it.

"Please, allow me." Miroku gestured, pointing at her hair. Kagome sighed again, and complied, turning so that Miroku could do his thing.

Running his fingers through Kagome's hair to separate the strands, Miroku smiled to himself. Kagome loved to have her hair played with. If she wasn't going to tell him straight out, he'd have to braid it out of her.

Grabbing a jeweled comb out of Kagome's hip pouch, Miroku began running it through her long, blue-black hair, in a steady, rhythmic motion. Kagome was lulled by the simple pattern, and she relaxed against Miroku's hand, as he skillfully made his way through the knots and tangles in her hair.

"Mmm. That feels godly." Kagome mumbled quietly, her voice low, like a contented cat's purr.

"I know." Miroku chuckled. "That was the idea."

"What do you want?" Kagome asked, her voice still quiet.

"What's troubling you?" Miroku asked equally quietly, dividing her hair into segments so he could braid it.

"It's nothing, really. Just… seeing my brother again, I suppose…" Kagome sighed, passing Miroku a hair tie so that he could hold the braid together after he had braided it.

Miroku accepted the tie, and continued to wind Kagome's hair. "That's it?" he asked, his voice skeptical.

"No…" Kagome sighed again. "But it's complicated."

"Try me," Miroku grinned into Kagome's hair.

"You know… that my father _tested_ on me, right?" Kagome questioned, waiting for Miroku's nod. "Well, I didn't turn out right. According to my father, anyhow… he thinks that all his testing on me was a waste."

"But… what was he testing for?" Miroku asked. He was fairly certain that he knew what Kagome was taking about… but he wasn't entirely sure.

"You should know this already, Miroku. He was testing human's capabilities to be jinchuriki… the hosts of demons." Kagome stated, her frown tangible in her voice.

"Right," Miroku said. The topic wasn't well known… but because he traveled with Kagome, he was almost constantly… _exposed_ to that information. He knew for a fact that he was one of the few who knew so much about being a demon host.

"Anyhow, he first tested a female's capability… but because he was the Kazekage, he couldn't test on a child from the town that he ruled over… naturally, he picked his own child." Kagome paused for a moment, reminiscing on her childhood.

* * *

_**Twelve Years Ago…**_

_Kagome sighed into her blanket. Life wasn't fun. Her big brother, Kan-kun, was no fun anymore. Just because he finally got to go to the ninja academy with Temari-chan… he was ignoring her. _

_Even after he had promised to play with her, Kagome found that he was making up more and more excuses. Silly things like, 'I'm training…' or 'I have to study for a test…' _

_Temari had already been at the academy for a year, being accepted before Kan-kun. Something about having a power affinity for the wind…_

_Kagome knew about her affinity. She had an affinity for fire. Her father had told her so. That he knew she had something special inside of her that helped her with fire._

_However, she had never felt a connection to the open flame, candles, or any other form of fire. Temari practically glowed when the wind came through the streets… Kagome could see her happiness licking around her form._

_Looking back around the room that he father had put her into, Kagome snuggled deeper into her blanket. The walls were white, but every foot or two; there was a strange hole in the wall. The holes were even on the floor and the ceiling. The holes were rather intimidating, Kagome found. Instead, she curled up in a ball in the centre of the room, hugging her blanket around her form._

_She couldn't even remember how long she had been in the room. Her father had wordlessly put her in here, and shut the door. There was a window in the door, but there was no way to open it, or the door. Kagome wasn't even tall enough to reach the window, anyhow._

_Suddenly, Kagome noticed the strange smell in the air. It was acrid, hurting the insides of her nose, and all the way down her throat. Gagging a couple of times, her head snapped up when she heard a strange rumbling coming from all around her._

_Standing up, Kagome scampered over to the door, and began banging on it with her little fists._

"_Daddy! Daddy, I don't like this anymore. I want to go home! Please, let me out!"_

_Her pleas were ignored though, because no one came to her rescue. Looking frantically around the room, Kagome looked for another way out. However, there were none. No seams or cracks in the walls. No other windows, doors, or openings…_

_The rumbling was near deafening now, and Kagome squatted. Suddenly, she noticed her blanket lying in the middle of the room. She couldn't leave it behind! Dashing back, she bent over to pick up the blanket._

_However, her hand instantly retracted like she was burnt. She was burnt. Her blanket was too hot to touch- she could feel the heat radiating off it. Sobbing, Kagome turned her hand over, to see how bad it was. Blisters were already forming, her skin pink and even reddish in places. However, it was quickly disappearing… she gasped as she felt the pain subside. However, she didn't have a chance to do anything else, when the room exploded into fire around her, long tendrils of flame licking at her little form from the holes in the wall._

* * *

_**Present Time…**_

Kagome shivered. Miroku's hands seemed strangely warm as they rested comfortingly on the back of her neck.

"I'm all done." Miroku said softly.

Kagome nodded, before continuing. "He tested me for all sorts of things… how fast I could heal… if I could withstand _his_ element… And a whole bunch of other things. When I finally snapped, _he_ took over, and we tore through our mansion, destroying everything. I killed my nanny, and most of the servants. It was then that he decided that I was unsafe, and assigned me a team, and a sensei, and told us to leave and never return."

"I remember that…" Miroku said suddenly, pulling Kagome closer to the fire when she shivered again.

"Uh-huh. And that of course, only made _him_ angrier… we tore through some of the village, looking for my baby brother. Temari and Kankuro tried to stop us, but _he_ snapped Temari's fan, and took over the winds. When I found him, I instantly realized what my father had been doing to him- my brother was now the same as I was.

The same thing that he had been putting me through- Gaara was being forced to withstand, and at an even younger age… It was a scary thought. I was so young... My body couldn't handle the strain that _his_ power put on me, and I collapsed before I got to his room. I didn't even know what I was going to do once I got him, anyhow…" Kagome sighed.

"That was where Kagura-sensei, InuYasha and I found you." Miroku snapped his fingers, remembering. Kagome nodded.

Reaching out her hand, Kagome watched in grim satisfaction as the flame curled to her will, twisting and flowing like liquid water about her wrist. However, the fire exploded into a flurry of sparks when her concentration snapped, and her head whipped up. Kagome's braid whipped Miroku in the face.

"See if I ever braid your hair again…" he muttered, rubbing his nose.

"They're tracking us!" Kagome hissed, looking to the west, where they had just come from. She could feel their aura's flaring as they got closer- and Gaara's was stretching away from him, trying to meet hers. Similarly, hers was exploding around her form, as if it was trying to break free and meet his.

"What?" Miroku gasped- his eyes wide. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." Kagome said grimly. "Hurry- and go find InuYasha. We have to leave, _now._" Miroku nodded, and dashed off into the trees.

Again, Kagome turned to the fire, and put her hand in front of the flames. They curled away from the logs, and wrapped around Kagome's form, coming dangerously near to her hair, and clothes. Raising her hand to the sky, the fire shot into the air like a flare, flashing a strange blue, before fizzling out with a crack.

An answering wind whipped through the clearing, as Kagura appeared, gliding above the treetops on a magnificent white feather. As soon as she jumped down, it disappeared, presumably returning to the strange ornament in her hair.

"What is it?" Kagura asked curiously. Something was up if Kagome had to use her signal.

"They're following us." Kagome said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. "I think Gaara has tapped into his ability to track auras."

Kagura looked worried. "Then how do we loose them?"

"Can they follow us into the sky?" Kagome grinned. "Two of us, one of them…right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Two of us that have access to the sky," Kagome said irritably. Kagura grinned in response.

* * *

Gaara shoved a couple of books on Suna's history into his bag, along with his change of clothes. Since he didn't sleep, he'd read. He knew those strange green eyes…

Temari barged into the room, catching Gaara by surprise. Of course, he countered it neatly by turning abruptly and glaring fiercely at his older sister.

"_What?_" he asked irritably, grabbing his little bag, and walking out of the room. Predictably, Temari followed him.

"We're ready to go. Baki-sensei is really impatient, and he wants to get moving. I came to find you." Temari said, rushing to keep up with her little brother's pace.

"Fine then," Gaara replied briskly, and held out his bag for Temari to take. "Put this with everything else. Who is carrying the bag?"

"Kankuro's starting…" Temari said unsurely. "Why?"

"If anyone goes into my bag, I'll kill them. If anything happens to this bag, I'll kill the first person I see, no matter who it is."

"O-okay," Temari stuttered, taking the bag gingerly from her brother. It weighed a ton. What was in there- a sack of bricks?

Gaara stepped out the front door, waiting only for Temari to give Kankuro the bag. She repeated his message, and Kankuro turned pale under his face paint. "Let's go then," Baki appeared with a bag on his back.

Turning north, he began walking. Kankuro and Temari followed, but all three of them stopped when they noticed that Gaara wasn't following them. "What's the problem, Gaara?" Temari asked, sounding anxious. She really didn't like going on long missions with her brother…

"That's the wrong way." Gaara said abruptly, and pointed east. "They're heading in the direction of Konoha."

"And how do you know that?" Baki asked, sounding rather miffed. He always knew where to go, and he had it on a very reliable source that a strange figure flying on a white feather was heading north.

"You can sense them, can't you?" Temari gasped. Gaara had displayed superior abilities for sensing aura's earlier, during their first contact with the strange Cell 13.

"No." Gaara said, looking at Temari strangely. "But that's the direction that they headed in, and I can follow the residue that their aura's left behind. They are all strangely large, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Kankuro and Temari looked at Gaara with a strange expression on their face, and turned to Baki expectantly. "Well?" they asked him, looking at him accusingly. He was always right.

"Follow Gaara," Baki ground out. _Just wait until their path turn to the north… Konoha. Hah!_

Gaara was about to start walking, when he froze. They weren't as far away as he suspected… and there was a huge burst of the jounin's aura. They were on the move!

"Quickly." Gaara hissed, and his sand swooped out, and scooped Kankuro, Temari, and Baki up. Forming in a platform under him and his team, they immediately rose over the trees, and began speeding east.

* * *

Kagome watched as Kagura floated ahead of her, Miroku and InuYasha tucked safely behind her on her feather. This was the kind of flying that she lived for- the offensive kind. Turning in mid air, Kagome looked for signs of her brother. There were none yet- but she knew that if he had unlocked his aura sensing ability, that it wouldn't be long until he caught up with them. Pushing herself higher into the air with a flick of her wrist, Kagome landed neatly on the tip of Kagura's feather, upsetting the balance for a moment. InuYasha yelled in protest, and Miroku's face looked a little green, but they quieted at the serious look on Kagome's face.

"They're coming for me. Father's orders, I'd assume," Kagome mused aloud, looking at her sensei.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Kagura questioned, "Because I'm sure that you're aware that this is your fault."

Kagome glared, but nodded. "Yes, I know. You're going to go ahead to Konoha, as planned. I will stop them."

InuYasha and Miroku protested avidly. "You will not!"

Kagome looked shocked for a moment, before turning her sharp green eyes on the boys behind Kagura. Both of them were staring at her with intense eyes, and Kagome almost smiled. However, there was no time for smiling, seeing as how there were four ninja's fast heading their way, in an attempt to take their lives.

"You cannot risk letting _him_ out when we're right on the border. You should know better!" Miroku chided.

"The pervert's got a point." InuYasha said, staring at her with his fierce amber eyes. "You would likely start a war! Neither side would know who to blame the damage on."

Kagome's eyes flashed, but she settled just as quickly, and a grim look made its way across her face. "There's going to be a war anyhow, you know." She said softly.

Kagura looked on silently, forgotten despite she was sitting between her three students. Her mind was focused on her brother, though, and what he was planning, who knew where. Her mind was brought back to the feather, however, when she felt Kagome tense.

"They're here."

Gaara sped on, heedless of his team's cries. Rather, Kankuro's cries. Temari stopped the harsh turbulence from hitting her and Baki, but did nothing for Kankuro, who was gripping the sand, like a lifeline.

That girl with the green eyes was starting to bother him now… the familiarity and the obscurity.

There.

A bright flash of green sparked in his mind's eye, and he looked ahead to see a white speck floating in the sky. A black speck dislodged itself from it, and plummeted towards the ground, and stopped just before the tree tops, as if it had landed on the ground, and not in mid-air.

Temari gasped. "Air Walking! That's a mega-advanced technique! Not even the elders of the village managed to do that- at least not for more than a few seconds!"

Kankuro scoffed, readjusting his hood, as well as Karasu on his back. "Whatever. I bet it's just some kind of illusion."

"You would be surprised." Baki spoke up, narrowing his eyes at the figure.

Gaara watched in silence, as two more figured separated themselves from the white one, high in the air, before landing on the same plane that the first figure had. The white speck danced off, and Gaara turned his attention to the three at the trees.

"You deal with them. I will fetch the jounin." Baki replied, narrowing his eyes, before disappearing. "_Do not let him out._"

Gaara groused at the order, but didn't do so vocally. Such a thing was unbecoming. And besides. Shukaku had awoken with the flash of that girl's aura. He had better things to do.

His sand suddenly disappeared beneath his siblings, and both of them were sent falling, down into the trees. They were still about a few hundred feet away from the other Cell, but that was not a problem. Temari whipped her fan open, and promptly disappeared, and Kankuro flicked a wrist, and his puppet strings announced Karasu, as Kankuro himself disappeared as well.

Gaara promptly followed, turning in the air as sand surrounded his form. Kankuro shook his head from beneath his cover, and frowned at his brother's brash action. He was not acting like himself at all. He'd admit that he thought the strange girl was rather (_very) _good looking, but even so, Gaara had never really shown the slightest interest in the opposite sex. Why was he starting now? And with such dangerous opponents…

* * *

Kagome frowned. All three of them had dropped down into the trees, and the jounin had disappeared- presumably off to go find Kagura. Miroku and InuYasha were sitting beside her on the little plateau she had created, and looked rather bored, to say the least.

"We're right here, waiting. Why don't they come out, already?" InuYasha grumbled, fingering Tetsusaiga's hilt. "I mean, what's the point of stealth at this point in the game?"

"Stealth can give them the advantage of surprise, you dimwitted excuse for a ninja." Miroku replied, opening his eyes. His legs were crossed in a lotus position, but he wasn't actually meditating.

"Why don't you two stop bickering, and go be stealthy yourselves?" Kagome snapped, her patience wearing incredibly thin. "The puppeteer is over to the right," Kagome pointed, "and the girl is hiding high in the tall trees to the left." She pointed again.

"And what of Gaara?" Miroku asked quietly, rising and placing a hand on Kagome's shoulder.

"I will deal with him." Kagome said, her expression darkening.

InuYasha and Miroku had no chance to say anything more, as Kagome allowed the plateau of air to dissipate, and they fell into the trees below them.

Kagome watched as they disappeared, before she dropped into the trees herself, waiting in a small clearing for her brother to appear. She did not have to wait very long, as Gaara stepped out from the trees, moments later.

"Who are you?" he asked, watching her with sharp eyes, and his arms crossed. His gourd was uncorked, but the sand lay silent and still, lest it startle the girl into attack.

Kagome stood there, mimicking her brother's position, though remaining silent. She crumpled inside- he really didn't remember her. It was obvious, with the way he was questioning her… it was as if he was accusing her.

Gaara started towards her, pacing in slow, steady movements. His eye wandered down to the little bracelet that she still wore- a ragged string, and a little fang.

His eyes followed her arms back to her face, only to meet a pair of deep blue eyes. His pace was startled, and he stopped walking. Lines around her eyes were beginning to form, in a strange comma pattern. The lines of her face got sharper, less childish, and her expression hardened further.

"Who are you?" he asked again, slipping into a position where he could move in any direction.

"My name is Kagome," she replied, her voice low and unnatural. "And you should stop this, right now, and go home before I do something that I might regret."

Gaara glared. Who did she think she was, ordering him around? Did she not know who _he_ was? Sand stirred to life behind him, eager for blood at his anger. _Soon, mother. Wait a moment longer._

Kagome caught the movement as the sand began trickling out of his gourd, and pooling at his feet.

"On second thought," Kagome laughed darkly, "Maybe I won't regret anything." Another voice chuckled along with hers, at a frequency that humans couldn't pick up. However, Gaara was startled to find that Shukaku picked it up, and passed it along.

Are you sure you know what you're doing? This is a battle that you shouldn't be walking into blindly.

_What?_ Shukaku was saying something _non-threatening_? It was a first. Shukaku never said anything helpful. Ever.

_**She is not everything that she claims she is. There is more.**_

Gaara was about to question the complete oddity of Shukaku forewarning him of something, when a searing heat caught his attention. Kagome had disappeared, a blaze of fire in her wake. He stepped away from the glow, and turned at a chuckle from behind him, his sand swirling away from him to follow the voice.

"Foolish little Gaara." The voice laughed from the trees. His sand circled around him, lacking a target. "Is it too hot for you?"

* * *

Temari tensed as she heard a twig crack below her. She hadn't picked the best position, since she didn't know who was coming, and which direction they were coming from. Leaves were blocking her view of everything beneath the tree tops, and she was at a loss for what to do. Should she risk moving, and giving away her position to get a better vantage point? Or-

She didn't have time to decide on another option. A clap signaled the burst of air that pummeled her high above the trees. She struggled in the strong current, her own ability over the air feeble in comparison to the strength of the wind. After a few moments, and several hundred feet into the air, she managed to get her fan out, and open, before disappearing behind it.

Thinking quickly, she calculated the purple one's approximate position, and appeared behind him, several feet away, concealed in the trees. He was standing, staring high into the sky, completely unaware of her presence.

"Gee, I must have sent her pretty high up, because I can't even see her any more… Whoops." He shrugged.

Temari sent a twister flying at the young chunin, and his body was sent flying into the tree. His body slumped to the ground, and disappeared with a 'pop', leaving a leaf behind. Temari groaned, and smacked her head. She had given away her position, again! Another clap and roar of wind drew her backwards, and straight into a warm body.

"Well, now. Hello there, pretty! Sorry, but even though I'd rather do something else, I have to do this." Warm purple eyes twinkled down at Temari, and despite the circumstances, she blushed vividly. She only remembered feeling a sharp pain in her neck, before the purple eyes disappeared into blackness, and she saw no more.

Hefting Temari's body over her shoulder gently, Miroku chuckled. "Piece of cake."

* * *

Kankuro sat on a branch, waiting for someone to find him. He was uncharacteristically quiet.

InuYasha sniggered, and jumped out of a tree, above, and landed a kick to the unsuspected Kankuro's head, sending him flying. "Ha-HAH!"

Kankuro, still silent, smashed into a tree a dozen feet away, and slumped to the ground in a rather unnatural position.

"Damn, that was too easy!" InuYasha crowed, happy with his easy victory. His laughter stopped, when Kankuro rose, and stood, facing the tree. With a snap, his head slowly turned on it's shoulders, creaking and groaning, until he was looking at InuYasha. Except it wasn't Kankuro anymore- it was a grotesque puppet's face, a mad grin stretched lopsidedly across his face.

"Damn, it was _too easy!_" InuYasha cursed, and jumped away as the puppet launched itself at him.

He swung around, flipping from tree branch to branch, dodging flying projectiles of all kinds as they landed with solid thuds into the branches that he vacated.

"I've had enough!" he shouted suddenly, and turned around, waving Tetsusaiga in the air. However, the stupid puppet who'd been swinging behind him like a frigging monkey on strings was gone.

InuYasha frowned, and squinted. Where was the bloody puppet? Where was the bloody puppeteer? A flash of black.

Ah. There.

InuYasha turned suddenly, and slashed to the side, then up. Karasu fell limply to the ground, his strings cut. InuYasha could see them, glowing faintly blue, as they hung from several trees, circling around until they came back to the spot where he had seen Kankuro.

Except Kankuro was gone.

Turning to the puppet, InuYasha swore. Loudly.

The puppet was gone.

Sliding Tetsusaiga into its sheath, InuYasha continued to swear under his breath. He _really_ hated puppets.

* * *

Gaara stood still, his sand still circling around him. Kagome would appear randomly in the trees, but she'd be there only for the briefest of moments, and she'd be gone again, so his sand was not being of much help.

However, the trees were smoldering, and withering away with each time that Kagome passed through them. Her aura, which was only appearing to him for moments at a time, was raging like an out of control fire, and was leaking a rather potent form of chakra, which was killing all the life around them.

As soon as this had occurred to him, Gaara had remained still, waiting for Kagome to show herself when he had enough time, and room, to react. Now, as all the plants were blackened and smoking, he was sending his sand out slowly, so it leaked into the dead foliage, camouflaged by the cinders.

Kagome appeared again, stopping right in front of where his sand was disappearing in to the foliage. _The fool._

_**She's not a fool. And she's not alone.**_

_Can she not see the sand?_

_**She can. Watch.**_

Gaara raised his fist, ignoring Shukaku's voice.

"Sabaku Kyu!"

Closing his hand with a snap, the sand from the foliage rose up, and swarmed about Kagome. However, she remained in the same position, her arms folded, and staring straight at him with a morbid grin.

The lines of her face were sharp, the bottom of her nose, and mouth a strange shade of black. It looked like it was hardening. Her eyes were black as well, and her hair had streaks of blue and red, on either sides of her face. A third comma-shaped mark was forming on her forehead, where a strange bump had formed.

_**Here she comes.**_

A burst of heat erupted from inside the sand, and it melted. It didn't crumble, or fall away- it simply rolled off her form, like water off a duck's back. Flames were rolling off Kagome's figure, and they made her look even more ethereal. Blue black fire burned her shirt right off, leaving behind black tank top that she had worn underneath. Her hakama were singed, and burnt off until they were little more than shorts. The gold on her boots, her arms, and her arm coverings were unharmed.

Flames entangled in her hair, and burned in place on her shoulders, creating fiery wings behind her. The lump on her forehead trembled, and cracked open.

It was an eye.

The blue eye was spinning madly, and upon closer inspection, Gaara was shocked to see the Sharingan twirling in its depths.

_**The man-made one.**_

_What?_

_**Let me out!**_

_No!_

Shukaku forcefully took over Gaara's body, and the change rippled through him instantly. He got taller, and his hair lengthened, turning a deeper red at the roots, and lightening at the ends. Several curled markings spread from his eyes, and more did around his wrists. Fangs and claws ripped out from tender flesh, and Gaara screamed.

His eyes, now more of a golden coloured green, stared at the Sharingan eye out of pointed pupils. Kagome's three eyes stared back, and a grin spread across her face in challenge.

* * *

"God-! DAMN IT!" InuYasha yelled, catching a glimpse of wavering blue flame and smoke from where he had left Kagome. "She let _him_ out." He muttered to himself.

"Who is _"him"_?" Kankuro asked, his voice coming from Karasu's mouth.

"Keh." InuYasha replied, spitting blood out of his mouth, before wiping it with a sleeve of his haori. "None of your business."

Karasu made an odd clunking sound, and spat a poison gas at InuYasha, causing him to jump out of the way.

"Oi!" he shouted, a sleeve all that was protecting him from the gasses.

Karasu lunged at him through the haze, a poison tipped blade coming out of his mouth. Large wooden arms caught around a surprised InuYasha, and held him still. The poisoned blade took a few inches off of the end of his hair.

"GRAH!" he kicked Karasu off, and swung Tetsusaiga around.

"KAZE NO KIZU!"

Five beams of yellow light ripped through the air like claws, tearing up anything and everything in their path. Quickly, InuYasha sheathed his blade, and made the sign of the ram. He focused the energy until they were tiny beams of light moving in their reckless path, and directed them at the puppet.

However, they moved right around Karasu, and each of them attached themselves to a string, and traveled all the way down the length of the chakra lines, until they met Kankuro with a resounding explosion. Smug, InuYasha grabbed the puppet, and he slung the unconscious body of the puppeteer over his shoulder and headed in the direction of Kagome's chaos, slowly picking his way through his own.

"InuYasha!" Miroku called, waving merrily.

"Oi!" he called in reply, making his way over to his teammate. Miroku stood there patiently, both the giant fan and Temari slung over one shoulder in a similar manner to how InuYasha was carrying Kankuro.

"You look horrible. Did he actually put up much of a fight?" Miroku questioned, looking at the debris that covered InuYasha's haori. He also took in the split lip, his uneven hair, and what was going to be a real nice shiner. Kagome wouldn't be too happy with having to mend InuYasha's haori again, and there looked to be more than a dozen rips, of varying sizes.

"Oh, shut up. You're just happy because you've got a female butt in your face." InuYasha retorted.

"At least mine _is_ female." He replied with a grin, before walking away towards where Kagome was facing off with her younger brother. "She let _him_ out?"

"Yup."

"Well, let's go take a look at the damage we'll have to cover for…"

"Right behind you."

* * *

Kagome's wings flapped wildly behind her, stirring up winds that sent flames eddying through the air. Gaara gathered his remaining sand, and sent it to work, and taking apart the glass, grain by grain. He didn't even know if it was possible, but Shukaku was in control- and he couldn't do much to stop him.

"Futon: Renkudan!"

Though it should have been impossible, massive bullets of air came shooting out of his mouth, and he sent them flying at Kagome's fiery figure.

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!"

Kagome sent her own fireballs at him, and they connected in mid-air with his air bullets, canceling most of them out. However, one of them got past her wall of fire, and connected with her left shoulder.

Instantly, there was a large hissing sound, and all of the fire surrounding her sizzled, before engulfing the air in thick, black smoke. There were several loud cracks, as her body fell through the air, and landed on several branches on the way down. Trees shuddered as a fierce wind ripped through the forest, ripping up several of them, and sending them flying into others, knocking many more down.

Fire licked out in an explosion as Kagome hit the ground, and then, in a burst of smoke, everything was silent. Shukaku released his hold on Gaara. Surprised, Gaara collapsed, and his sand circled him before disappearing into his gourd. His legs were too weak to hold him. He was bleeding from his fingers, and from his mouth where fangs and claws had emerged.

Staring into the cloud of smoke that was where Kagome was lying, silent, Gaara recognized where he had seen her eyes. He saw himself, and Shukaku in his mind, and he followed the changes that had happened to him when Shukaku took over. He saw Kagome, and her changes, and looked at her green eyes.

They matched his.

With this last thought, the darkness that threatened his mind took over, and a laughing Shukaku was the only sound he heard.

**tbc**

* * *

******EDITED: 05/12/11**  



	3. Konoha's Interference

**Siblings of the Sand – Chapter Two**

**Konoha's Interference**

**ancient-relic**

InuYasha and Miroku deposited their loads (mostly gently) against the trunk of a mighty tree, which had managed to stay standing through Kagome's mighty out flux of powers.

"You get her brother, and I'll get Kagome." InuYasha directed, before turning to the dispersing smoke with a frown.

"You're just saying that because you want to carry Kagome the same way I carried Temari!" Miroku teased, laughing lightly.

"N-no!" InuYasha stuttered indignantly, his face redder than his clothes.

"Oh yes!" Miroku sing-songed. "InuYasha has a crush on Kago-me!"

"Shut up, perv!" he retaliated. "I just don't want you feeling her up! How will Kagome take _that _news, when she wakes up?"

Miroku paled.

It was InuYasha's turn to laugh, as he walked into the smoke, and began searching for Kagome. Finding her after a few moments of digging, he called to Miroku.

"Want to get rid of some of the smoke? We have to wait until she cools down."

Miroku looked puzzled for a moment, but compliantly opened his left hand with a clap, and blew away the smoke and fumes within a matter seconds. When it cleared, he saw InuYasha sitting on a fallen tree trunk, Kagome lying in a small crater beside him, her body glowing like embers.

"_He_ is still trying to take over her body." Miroku stated, though it was more of a question.

"Yup." InuYasha replied, crossing his arms. "Stupid little bugger doesn't know when the battle's over. Besides. Kagome's body can't handle anything more right now."

"She's emotionally exhausted."

"Keh." InuYasha snorted. "She got all girly and sniffly at seeing her family again."

"That would… ugh. Never mind." Miroku waved InuYasha away. "But I wouldn't be insulting _him_ while Kagome's down for the count. We don't want to know what his powers can do through her unconscious body now, do we? It would be bad for us, and worse for Kagome."

InuYasha remained silent, sitting beside Kagome's body, watching it apprehensively. Miroku was right. There were worse things that could still happen… and he was ready to pray that they didn't.

"Oi, Kagome." He said quietly, looking down at her battered body. "Don't let him get to you. Not now. You've worked to hard for that." Over by the sand trio, Miroku grinned.

All was calm for a moment, despite the fact Kagome was down for the count, and had almost set the forest on fire. It was easy to assume that there wasn't actually anything wrong with anyone. That this was a quiet time.

That was, until a pillar of fire rose from where Kagome was laying.

"Inu-baka! What did you do?" Miroku yelled, running and tripping his way over, in shock, to where InuYasha was climbing out of the crater.

"Nothing! Nothing! Stupid, sadistic wench!" he cried, grabbing his uneven hair, looking at the singed silver locks. "Damn!"

It was even more uneven than it was before- now; it was burned on an angle, strands blackened. The other side of his head was jagged from the puppet's blade. InuYasha could only imagine the split ends.

"You must have said something," Miroku yelled. The flame showed no signs of dying down, and a mighty roar ripped through the air, shaking the earth. "These things don't just happen by themselves!"

"So? I _might_ have called her a lazy wench for staying down so long. She didn't have to go and do this, did she?"

The shaking of the earth knocked them to the ground. "No… no, NO!" Miroku moaned, covering his head as branches fell to the ground from the taller trees that still stood. He shoved InuYasha out of the way, as a tree fell right where they were kneeling.

"Kagome's anger gave _him_ the power he needed to take control of her body!"

"Jesus!"

"Good going, Inu-baka!" Miroku roared, making his way over to where Kagome was blazing.

Another earth-shattering tremor ripped through the ground, and did just that. It shattered the earth. Miroku stopped, and stared in horror. The mountain cracked, and began to crumble, gigantic stones rolling down the side, shaking everything even more.

"So much for going unnoticed!" Miroku exploded, glaring at InuYasha, who was looking rather sheepish. Thinking quickly, Miroku flipped through the signs for a jutsu that he rarely used.

"Suiton: Kaihodan!"

A huge blast of water spiraled out of nowhere, and promptly dumped itself on Kagome. With a magnificent hiss, the fire dispersed into smoke, and Miroku wasted no time in rushing to gather up a smoldering, charred Kagome into his arms. Taking a second to check her over, Miroku watched for a moment as several large burns were starting to recede. Then, dashing away, he motioned to InuYasha, who followed promptly.

"We've got to get out of here, before Konoha comes! Or worse, Suna! Or, even worse still, they both come!" Miroku cried, running for the tree line.

InuYasha looked to the skies, searching for any sign of their sensei. Other ninja certainly couldn't track them through the air… but Kagura didn't appear. InuYasha mentally cursed.

* * *

Tsunade looked grimly at several ANBU members who were lined up in front of her desk. Shaking her head, she dismissed them, and stood to look out the window that faced the west.

Large plumes of smoke were still rising from the crumbling mountain, though both the earthquake and the falling rocks had stopped. It was an acrid greenish-gray, though it had blue to it as well, which led Tsunade to believe that it wasn't just smoke from an ordinary fire. She suspected that it was a ninja's doing.

She didn't want to send in her ANBU to investigate, however, because there was always the chance that it wasn't anything dangerous, rather some kind of explosion gone wrong. Sending out an ANBU team only to find that a mineshaft had collapsed could be a vital mistake- as they may be needed somewhere else. But what if it was something else? Something more dangerous? Like Orochimaru?

Tsunade turned away from the window, and frowned, a wrinkle marring her forehead. "Shizune!" she called.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Shizune stepped through the door, as if she had been waiting on the other side. Tsunade figured as much.

"Get me Cell 7."

* * *

Orochimaru frowned.

"Is this all the information that you have for me?"

His subordinate nodded, shivering. Orochimaru looked at him with narrow eyes, obviously disgusted. Suddenly, snakes shot out of his sleeve, and decapitated the shivering ninja, who fell to the floor, lifeless.

"Kabuto!" he shouted, standing from where he was seated on several cushions, by a small table.

Kabuto appeared in the room several moments later, and kneeled in front of Orochimaru.

"Yes? What is it that you need?"

"Get me information on that explosion, and the strange earthquake. I want to know how it happened, I want to know who did it, and I want to know before night fall."

"Right away." Kabuto replied, pushing up his glasses. Then, with an answering cloud of smoke, he disappeared the same way he came.

* * *

Naraku looked up from his mirror, a wide smile on his face. Kagome had given herself away, again.

While he couldn't track Kagome herself, he was able to predict her movements, and thus was right in thinking that she was heading to Konoha next, searching for the host to the legendary nine-tails.

The sound ninja, Orochimaru, had given enough away, when his subordinate had blathered all that he knew about the explosion- that it was man made, and it was on the outskirts of Konoha.

He knew just from the description of the smoke that it was Kagome's doing- as he had witnessed one of her explosions before.

Grinning widely, he lay back into his throne of cushions. All he had to do now was plant a spy who would send Kagome running to him. He also made a mental note of sending a messenger to Orochimaru- he would likely be the easiest way to get what he wanted without exposing himself directly.

* * *

Kakashi was the last to appear in the conference room, and Tsunade sent a pointed glare in his direction before she began to describe the explosion. After showing Cell 7 several sketches hastily drawn by their main source of information (a drunken hermit) she sent them away, rubbing her head in exasperation.

* * *

"Oi!" Sasuke called behind him, looking at a lagging Naruto, who was trying to fix his shuriken pouch as he ran. "Hurry up, _dobe_."

Naruto looked up, and affixed his bright blue eyes on Sasuke's smug black ones. However, he didn't retaliate, but he merely tightened the pouch back into place, and sped forward, right past his group.

Kyuubi was getting restless, and Naruto could feel him straining at his restraints. There was an acrid smell in the air, and it burned the insides of his nose. It was like something was burning… which was perfectly plausible, because it was some kind of explosion that they were supposed to be investigating.

Would you hurry up? We have to get there before the two of them are gone!

_What kind of nonsense are you talking about?_ Naruto replied with a scowl, frowning as he ran.

_**This kind of explosion doesn't happen from paper bombs, or any kinds of jutsu that you, or any of **_**them**_** know. **_The Kyuubi replied, nodding his head at the three that were behind Naruto. _**This is a resultant from two of the tails clashing.**_

_Are you serious? _Naruto was floored. _T-that can't be possible! Who could it be?_

First and foremost, Naruto was most surprised to know that other people like him were behind the explosion. More people with the same issues as him… Naruto's mind was running feverishly over the possibilities of what would happen after this.

_**I think I know who is behind this. However, I hope I'm incorrect.**_ The Kyuubi continued, his voice strangely mellow._**But then again, maybe this will result in a rather enjoyable fight.**_

Turning, Naruto followed his nose, and gagged a little. The acrid smell was getting stronger.

"Naruto!" Sakura called. "You're going the wrong way!"

"No I'm not!" he responded, without looking back. "I'm going to cut them off!"

With that, Naruto bounded off, leaving Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi to decide what to do next.

"Do you think we should actually follow him?" Sakura replied, sounding as hesitant as she looked. Sasuke glared off in the direction that Naruto had disappeared.

"What makes him so sure that he's not going to fall into some kind of trap?"

Kakashi was silent for a moment, before placing either hand on his remaining team's shoulders. "I think Naruto's right on this one. We should follow him."

"What?"

"He's starting to move like Pakkun." Kakashi replied, deep in thought. "He's getting more and more animalistic as time passes."

"You think he's following his nose?" Sasuke questioned, incredulously. Sakura gasped at the revelation.

"Yes." Kakashi replied, and bounded off in pursuit of Naruto, leaving Sakura and Sasuke to follow him.

* * *

Gaara groaned, and rose from his slumped position. He had a sore neck, and a sore back, from the bloody position he was laying in. The irregular pattern of the bark wasn't that pleasant- knotholes cutting into his back.

But, where was his gourd?

Gaara strained his eyes, focusing on nothing for a moment, before taking in the blackened area. His clothes were covered in a fine layer of black soot, and looking at his hands, he guessed that his face and hair were as well.

Temari and Kankuro were just rising beside him, and he stood up, still looking for his sand. Fisting his hand at his side, he recognized the charred ring around where he had been sitting.

His sand had been burned to glass, again, when it had defaulted, and tried to protect him from whatever. Slowly, however, it was taking itself apart, and it was curling around his ankles.

"Gaara!" Temari cried, standing straight up, and wobbling a bit. "Where did they go?"

"Who cares?" Kankuro replied, his voice hoarse. His mouth had been open- and it was blackened as well. Kankuro spat hastily on the ground.

Gaara narrowed his eyes, and searched for Cell 13's aura. Finding not as far away as he might have originally suspected, he took off in that direction, and left Temari and Kankuro to follow.

He was surprised to sense Naruto's aura coming at the three from the opposite direction… but he supposed that he was being sent to investigate the explosion. He would corner them. Good.

Rushing onward, he moved so that he was directly behind the group, and he focused on Kagome's aura. It was faint, and it appeared that the two colours in her aura were fighting. The blue-black was trying to take over the growing lightning bolts of aqua that were streaking through her aura, and both colours were pulsating wildly.

There.

Naruto was closing in on them, and Gaara picked up his pace, so that he was going to catch up to the group at about the same time Naruto was. He felt Shukaku stir within him in anticipation for a battle… as there were two beasts that he was about to be meeting.

_No. I will not have it._

Shukaku quieted only slightly at the force of Gaara's will, but was still there- an annoying urge in the back of his mind.

* * *

Miroku grimaced. Kagome was still down for the count, and showing no signs of waking. His arms were getting tired. But he didn't dare pass her off to InuYasha, because he knew that he would need InuYasha's skills if they ran into anyone, and needed to fight their way away.

"They've got us cornered, you know." InuYasha replied, as he jumped to the next branch, above Miroku's head.

"What? Are you serious?" Miroku replied, his worry increasing.

"Yep." I caught a flash of orange further down the way, and I can practically feel Kagome's brother following us."

Miroku said several colourful words, but didn't have a chance to do anything else, as a figure clad in bright orange burst through the trees ahead of them. InuYasha dropped to the ground, and brandished a rusty Tetsusaiga in a fluid, practiced movement.

Gaara entered through the trees behind them, and InuYasha half-turned his head, before focusing on Naruto. "Who're you?"

"Nar-"

A smack to the head shut Naruto up. It was Kakashi.

"Your name first, is customary." Sasuke spoke up, appearing from behind Kakashi.

"Keh. Been there, done that, and we don't have time for it again." InuYasha replied, with a scoff and a glare. Miroku shook his head.

"It doesn't work that way, you idiot!" he hissed, turning to InuYasha.

As InuYasha and Miroku squabbled, Naruto found his eyes drawn to the girl that the one in purple was carrying in his arms. Long raven hair practically trailed to the ground, and large amounts of skin almost shone in the light that filtered through the trees.

_**That's her.**_ The Kyuubi breathed, his voice a strange tone, filled with rapture.

_What?_ Naruto replied smartly, his eyes taking in what little of her he could see. She was beautiful.

_**She's the one who made the explosion. It was her, and that bloody tanuki, Shukaku.**_ Kyuubi growled the one-tail's name.

It was then that Naruto remembered that Gaara was here as well, and looked up to see that his siblings had arrived as well.

"Gaara!" he called, waving with a smile. Walking over, he avoided the still squabbling pair, and motioned Gaara a little ways away.

Gaara, silent and with a carefully blank face, followed Naruto, and they stopped several feet away from his siblings.

"What happened?" Naruto's face went from a wide smile, to serious, and Gaara was surprised, to say the least. It had been a while since he had seen the blond with such a steadfast look on his face.

"What are you talking about?" Gaara replied, his voice monotone. What did Naruto know?

"Don't play stupid." Naruto replied. "Kyuubi tells me that the strange girl and your tanuki were the causes of the explosion. If I don't know what happened, then we'll have to take both you, and those three," he gestured over his shoulder at the two boys and the girl, "back to Konoha for questioning. Tsunade-baa-chan isn't taking any chances with strange activity in the area."

Gaara remained silent for a moment, considering the ways he could attack the situation. He could play ignorant, or he could tell Naruto what he knew. Or most of what he knew. There were still some things that he wasn't sure of about that strange girl that he knew he had to get to the bottom of. Nothing really mattered until he knew who she really was. And what that strange power was she possessed…

"Shukaku knows. He sensed it." Gaara started. "She has some kind of power like ours. Demonic, perhaps."

"Or she's just frighteningly powerful." Kankuro added, walking over.

"Kankuro!" Temari chided, following carefully.

"Oh, shut up, Temari." Kankuro grumbled. "You know as well as I do that she could be a threat to either Suna, or Konoha. Just look at the way father was on the whole thing!"

"What?" Naruto replied, confused. _**And rightfully so,**_ Shukaku chucked.

_**Tanuki.**_ Came a voice. Gaara startled, and looked at Naruto. Temari and Kankuro were now bickering. Naruto looked equally confused.

_**Kitsune.**_ Shukaku replied, and Gaara connected the dots. It was Naruto's demon, speaking to him. Or… speaking to Shukaku, as it were.

_**Is it really what it smells like?**_

_**Yes,**_ Shukaku replied, _**It is. The man-made one. We fought for the barest of moments, and I was over-powered. The skill… the sheer might is incredible.**_

_**But don't forget, you're only the one-tail.**_ Kyuubi mocked, and Shukaku growled.

_**Don't start on that, you flea-bag.**_ Shukaku replied menacingly._** There are more important things to be discussing. That young girl's body has incredible stamina, but she will not be able to hold out against the angry will of him for much longer.**_

_**We should wake her up, then, shouldn't we?**_ Kyuubi replied with a feral grin. Naruto shivered.

What are you doing? First demons are talking to me. Then, demons are talking to each other in my head!

_You're not the only one,_ Gaara replied, his voice sounding rather bitter. Naruto almost didn't recognize him, for the tone.

_Do you know what they're going to do?_ Naruto asked, rather worried.

_They're going to release simultaneous bursts of chakra, to provoke her mind to awake, as she will react to them as possible enemies. They're going to play on her more animalistic instincts._ Gaara replied mechanically.

Naruto was surprised. Gaara talking to him normally, and now, sounding all knowing. Not to mention the demons in his head. _Jeez, I sound like I'm mentally insane._

_**You've survived this long,**_ the Kyuubi laughed. _**But I'm sure that it'll have to happen sooner or later!**_ Mad laughter echoed through his head, and Naruto was forced out of his head, with a wild burst of orange chakra.

Gaara tensed beside him, as his own yellow chakra flowed out from his body, and together with Naruto's own orange-red chakra, they weaved and danced around the girl's form, until they saw her body twitch.

**_Ah. She awakens._**

* * *

_**Kagome, darling, it's time to wake up.**_ A voice crooned to her softly.

_**Ah, just shut the fuck up already, you worm.**_ An angrier voice snapped back.

_**Watch your filthy mouth, you dithering bird!**_ the female voice snapped back. _**And I'm not a worm!**_

_**Woman.**_ The male voice growled. _**You're lucky you got the better of me this time. I won't be so lenient the next time I get free.**_

_**I'm quaking in my scales.**_ The female replied. However, she didn't have a chance to continue, as a bright wash of fiery colored chakra sent Kagome pin wheeling through her mind. Kagome could feel the enemy chakra flooding through her being, and she knew that she had to protect herself from the other tails.

_Wake up!_

* * *

Miroku felt Kagome's power surge through her body, and hastily dropped her body.

"What-! Don't drop her, you re-" InuYasha started spluttering curses at Miroku, who only shook his head in response.

"Look,"

InuYasha looked closely at Kagome, who was hovering right above the ground. _'Well,'_ InuYasha thought speculatively, _'That's a new trick…'_

Kagome's eyes snapped open, and flashed green, before she disappeared and was behind Naruto and Gaara, with a kunai to each of their throats. Sensing this, Gaara stayed perfectly still. However, Naruto wasn't quite as quick, and panicked.

The Kyuubi reacted, taking control over Naruto's body while he was to shocked to move. Twisting under Kagome's arm and around to her back, Naruto locked his arms and Kagome's into place.

_**Long time no see,**_ the Kyuubi chuckled, before relinquishing control to Naruto.

Kagome blinked a few times, before she poofed out of Naruto's grip, and moved to stand beside Miroku and InuYasha. Naruto, still rather surprised, (and dazed) moved to stand with his team, while Temari, Kankuro and Gaara completely the triangle.

"Well, isn't this interesting." Kakashi chuckled. Everyone was glaring at each other. Kagome was eyeing Naruto, while Naruto, equally surprised, was staring right back at her. Sasuke seemed to be captured by the strange girl as well, while Sakura was downright glaring at the girl. Miroku and InuYasha were eyeing the two teams that were surrounding them, nervously. Kankuro and Temari were watching Cell 7, but Gaara was watching Kagome.

Everyone was waiting for another to make the first move. However, they didn't have to wait long. Kagome and Gaara, simultaneously, looked to the left, and at the trees that led to the northeast, the one front that no one had come from. _Yet._

"People are coming," Gaara hissed.

"Crap," Kagome sighed. She turned to InuYasha and Miroku. "It's _them_," she enunciated.

"_Them?_" Miroku asked. "Both of them?"

Kagome shook her head. "Be ready to go. I'll call Kagura."

InuYasha and Miroku turned to face the northeast, InuYasha sending chakra into the Tetsusaiga, and Miroku moving his hands into a praying position. Temari opened her fan, letting it rest on the ground in an open position. Kankuro already had his hands on Karasu, but Kakashi noted that he had already switched positions, and had several clones hidden in the ground. Gaara's gourd, which was now on his back, was crumbling, the sand dispersing amongst the ashes on the ground.

"You all should be ready for a fight," Kakashi said, lifting up his headband.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura wordlessly did as he asked, facing the northeast as well.

Kagome spoke up, before taking to the air. "Gaara, you and your team take the Sound Four. You, from Konoha, deal with the Akatsuki. I will deal with Naraku's clones. Miroku, InuYasha, back up each team as necessary. Here they come."

**tbc**

* * *

**********EDITED: 05/12/11**  



	4. Tag Team Takedown

**Siblings of the Sand – Chapter Three**

**Tag Team Takedown**

**ancient-relic**

Kagome sent a burst of chakra spiraling high into the air. None of the people who were down below were paying attention, as they were all tense and prepared for the battle that was to come.

It only took a moment for Kagome to feel Kagura's mind reach out to touch hers. Baki was with her, and they were on their way, due in a few minutes.

Tilting her head downwards, she was surprised to find the blond boy's eyes on her. She grinned down at him, and he blushed, before turning away. His sensei had caught the interaction, and Kagome grinned at him too. But she didn't have time to grin anymore, because the first of the group, Naraku's puppets, were on them.

Gaara sensed the strange clones coming towards them, and knew instinctively that these were the ones that Kagome was going to deal with. He watched as she swooped down from above, and landed in front of the assembled shinobi.

Kagome's hand disappeared into her hair, up by her right ear. When she removed her hand, her little earring was gone. Gaara sensed the chakra that burst through her arm, and headed down into her right hand, and a moment later, the black long sword that he had seen once before in action.

The engravings were swirling violently up and down the blade, and he watched as the blade condensed, turning into a thick, broad sword, and half a foot across the width of the blade. The length, he noticed, remained the same. The hilt and grip lengthened, and the sapphire twisted, before moving from the tip of the grip to where the blade and the hilt met.

"A Claymore!" Temari whispered, looking at the long blade.

"That's a what…?" Kankuro looked at his sister. Temari was much more fluent in weapons that he was… he knew that she particularly liked studying swords, despite the fact that she just couldn't seem to manage one.

"A Claymore. It's a long, heavy sword. The style died out because of the abnormal length and weight that it had- you need a massive strength reserve to wield one successfully! And to top it off, the last remaining ninja who had mastered the Claymore, was one of the Mist's Seven Swordsmen."

Naruto listened with interest- he was sure that his teammates were listening as well. Was this girl that powerful? That she could manifest a weapon, and then change it to suit her purposes? She was getting more and more interesting. The Kyuubi was pacing in his cell, and Naruto could feel his itch to battle.

"NARAKU!" Kagome yelled into the trees. "WILL YOU NOT FACE ME? OR WILL YOU HAVE YOUR CLONES DO YOUR BIDDING, ONLY TO HAVE THEM _SLAUGHTERED_?"

A deep, malicious laughter echoed eerily out of the trees. A man stepped forwards, followed by dozens of clones, all clothed in black and wearing face masks. They all had long, wavy hair, tied high on their heads. The man himself was wearing much more lavish clothing- his purple and blue hakama were accentuated by a blue, grey, and purple haori, though it was partially hidden under ferocious looking armor.

Kagome snarled, a ferocious sound ripping from her tiny body. Gaara and Naruto, extremely sensitive to the type of chakra she was radiating, had to take a step back. However, everyone else didn't go unaffected- Kakashi even had to wince.

"You really think you can hurt me, Kagome-_chan_?_" _the man, Naraku, added the suffix tauntingly.

Naruto could hear the smirk stretching across her face. "Of course!" she replied. Everyone focused on her form. Kakashi and Sasuke had their Sharingan activated- but even they were hard-pressed to follow her form.

_She's faster than Rock Lee!_ Sasuke thought, watching and seeing her moves before she executed them. She took out each of the clones one by one, with a diagonal slash from right shoulder to groin.

Naruto, Gaara, and InuYasha and Miroku, because they had trained with Kagome so long, saw Kagome's form flicker out of existence, before it reappeared before them, a few steps forward from where she had started. Her blade was coated in a strange, inky substance, and with a deft shake, it splattered on the ground.

To Sakura, Temari, and Kankuro, who were not at all expecting the speed that she traveled at, it looked like she had moved a step or two forwards. They watched in confusion as she stood there, glaring at the man she called Naraku. For a moment, they seemed engaged in a glaring match, and a moment later, all the men grouped behind him burst like balloons, black-looking liquid spilling from them, and soaking into the ground, turning it a bracken colour.

Naraku looked outraged at this turn of events, and drew a blade that had rested at his side, unnoticed until now. Kagome smirked. "You really thing something like that will stop something like _this?_" Kagome questioned, holding up her own sword, still in the form of a Claymore, and spinning it with a clockwise twist of her wrist.

Without another word, Kagome and Naraku leapt at each other, their swords meeting in a mighty clash. The echo of metal on metal grated against everyone's ears, and a shrill ringing followed, as Kagome drew the length of her blade across Naraku's, manipulating the position of their locked blades to her advantage.

Naraku seemed prepared for this, as he switched both his grip and his stance, so the pressure Kagome was putting into her sword was effectively negated. This struggle continued for a few moments, before Kagome had decided she'd had enough of standing still. Her right hand left the grip of her blade, and snuck its way through the crossed metal.

Their onlookers wondered what it was she was up to, and only the sharpest eyes caught the senbon that were hidden in her hand. Naraku didn't know that she had the thin needles in her hand, but as soon as she had withdrawn them, he reacted without missing a beat.

Kagome swiped violently, but Naraku had used the length of Kagome's sword to put a bigger distance between them, and a few locks of his curled hair fell to the ground.

A hush settled over the clearing, and everyone could feel the tension pressing down on them, until everything burst into a flurry of motion. Kagura and Baki dropped from the sky, and several fleeting shadows burst through the tree line, heading in different directions, so as to separate the group.

Gaara recognized the formation as that of the Sound Four, Orochimaru's little group of pliable soldiers, all of whom carried strange curse marks on their skin. However, a fifth moved with them- and Gaara recognized the figure with a mounting anger in his chest… it was Orochimaru _himself_.

A feral grin spread across Kagome's face as Orochimaru walked towards Naraku, who had wisely put some distance between both his and Kagome's blade.

"Naraku, old friend," Orochimaru greeted.

"Orochimaru," Naraku inclined his head, acknowledging the snake-like man. "Still as feminine as ever, I see."

"The same for you, friend." Orochimaru responded, the scowl evident in his voice. "But I see you've finally decided to get your hair cut- yet I would have chosen a better hairdresser than dear Kagome-chan…" he mocked.

"YOU LECHEROUS OLD MEN HAD BETTER STOP CALLING ME CHAN," Kagome said, outraged by their gall to ignore the very person that they sought, as they stood there bickering.

Orochimaru seemed to realize that he had both ignored Kagome, and those that were in the clearing with them. Grinning, his long tongue came out of his mouth to catch a kunai that had been chucked by a clone of Kagome's- and whipped it back, to dispatch it.

"You've gotten better, Kagome-chan." He smirked. Turning to his servants, he nodded to a red-haired girl. "Begin, Tayuya."

The girl nodded, and she and her three male companions began towards the other ninja in the clearing. However, everyone had been gratefully prepared, and Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, and Baki launched into action with equal speed.

* * *

Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi watched this with interest. Sasuke felt a familiar hatred welling up inside of him as he watched Orochimaru and the girl, Kagome, converse. There was something about that man that creeped him out beyond comprehension. His presence was violating all on its own. Orochimaru had his undivided attention until Naruto nudged him so subtly that he never would have realized it, had he not been so tense.

"Look to the left, teme," he whispered. Sasuke heard the urgency in Naruto's voice, and looked at his teammate, watching as he kept his attention at what was going on in front of them. Sensing that there was a new situation afoot, he activated his Sharingan, and turned his head slightly, as if he was watching as well. Yet his eyes travelled back, searching out Sakura, who was standing, tense, her hands clasped, hidden, in front of her. She was flipping through hand signs as slowly as possible- so as not to alert an onlooker to any motion.

Next, Sasuke sought out Kakashi, and found that his sensei was standing stiller and stiffer than he had ever recalled seeing him. The lazy-man's posture had been forgone for a tense, battle ready motion- which reminded Sasuke distinctly of a rabbit, ready to flee.

Of course, there was plenty of reason for his tense stance, because the minute Sasuke had turned his attention to Kakashi, he noticed the looming presence that had his teacher so stiff.

Behind Kakashi, half-shadowed in the trees, stood a blue-faced man, and his shorter partner, Itachi. They were standing in the shade of the tree line, seemingly quite content to watch the battle unfold before ever having to dirty their own hands.

His eyes training on Itachi, Sasuke wasn't surprised to find his brother looking right back at him. They held each other's eyes for a moment before Itachi's gaze drifted lazily to his left; Sasuke's right.

As his brother's attention shifted from him, Sasuke felt an angry feeling well up inside him at the blatant dismissal from his remaining family. There was a bitter part of him who wished that things could be different- that he wasn't so _weak_… that his brother could stop making his life difficult and complicated… that maybe, he hadn't even killed anyone at all.

But Sasuke knew that it was impossible. So after all the work that he had done- all the blood, sweat and tears that he had put into making himself someone worthy of his older brother's attention… _affection_… his eyes strayed from him in less than thirty seconds.

Anger welled up within him, as he turned his head, to see what had his brother so interested. Naruto stood, stock still, staring at something Sasuke couldn't see. The moment seemed to freeze, like a photograph, in Sasuke's mind, before the clearing went up in a flurry of dirt with a deafening BANG.

"Ahahahaa! Now _that_ was a piece of art, un!" a voice came from above the clearing, and Sasuke, still trying to clear his lungs, tried to catch a glimpse of the perpetrator of the explosion.

"Sasuke! Come on!" Sakura cried, appearing to his left, and dragging him with her as she dashed for the cover of the trees. Naruto was waiting for them, three clones standing guard.

"Look. We don't have long. From what I've been told by Kakashi, there are four members of the organization called the Akatsuki here. The Akatsuki is a criminal organization, made up of around 10 S-Class criminals from varying Shinobi cities. They work in teams of two, so we have two teams here. One team is Uchiha Itachi, and Hoshigaki Kisame. Itachi possesses the most advanced form of the Sharingan, and Kisame's blade, Samehada, can absorb chakra. He used to be one of the Mist's Seven Swordsmen.

Deidara and Sasori are the other team. Little is known about them. Deidara is from Iwa, so it is safe to assume that he uses earth-techniques. Sasori is from Sand, and is known as Sasori, the Puppet Master." Sakura rattled off all of the information that she remembered from Kakashi-sensei.

He had created a clone at the beginning, when the strange girl first warned them of the incoming enemies. Figuring it safe to follow suit, Sakura did as well, replacing herself with a clone. Kakashi found her hiding in a tree, and informed her about the members of the Akatsuki that were approaching, and ordered her to tell Naruto and Sasuke, and take care of the second team, Sasori and Deidara.

Sasuke and Naruto listened to this with a keen ear, taking it in as quickly as possible. Naruto felt his clones disappear, and he could no longer see them circling outward from where they were sitting. He had sent them out when Sakura had started to brief them… and now…

"Someone's closing in!" Naruto said, and he, Sakura, and Sasuke jumped upwards, clinging to the nearest boughs of the trees that surrounded them.

"Heh. That was pretty good, for a _brat."_ Kisame said, grinning up at them. He pulled his blade from the ground, and was about to jump after them, when Itachi walked calmly into the clearing.

"What did I say about engaging, Kisame?" Itachi said, his voice rich, deep, and threatening. Sakura shivered. He could probably do a lot with just his voice. _It's like Sasuke's sexiness factor times 10! __**CHA!**_

"We're here on business, Itachi. What's the point in coming and not fighting? Sasori and Deidara are going to go back with all of the glory."

"They will not." Itachi responded, and glanced leisurely up at the three genin in the trees, who were watching them warily. "They will tire them out, and we will take what we came for and leave."

"But-"

Itachi turned his cold, calculating eyes onto Kisame, who cut his retort short. "If you wish to needlessly tire yourself and your reserves out, then by all means do so. But of all the opponents to choose from, do not waste time on the _fodder._"

Sasuke gnashed his teeth together in anger at the second blatant dismissal from his brother, and his hand found two kunai from his pouch.

"You would do well not to call my team fodder, Itachi." Kakashi said, appearing behind the eldest Uchiha, his own kunai in hand. He knew he could not stand long against Itachi, so he quickly began calculating on the fastest way he could get them to retreat. "They are quite talented."

"We shall see." With that, Itachi spun on the spot, and launched a barrage of kunai and shuriken at Kakashi, who poofed into a log. Itachi followed him out of the clearing.

"Heh," Kisame laughed, looking up at the three genin. "Fodder."

Sasuke, his hands white from gripping the blades in his hand so tightly, launched himself at Kisame in a blur of movement.

"Watch out for his blade, Sasuke!" Sakura cried, but Kisame and Sasuke were already decimating the forest, and her words did not reach him.

"Well, it's just you and me, Sakura-chan." Naruto said.

"Aww, have you forgotten about us so soon, un?" came a mocking voice from high above them. Sakura and Naruto looked up, to see two men- both fairly tall and lean. One of them had short red hair, and the other long blonde hair, concealing one eye.

"I got the girlie one," Sakura growled. _What's with all these gorgeous men with nicer, longer hair then mine?_

"Be careful, Sakura-chan." Naruto said, and Sakura gave him a grim nod. They leapt in separate directions, the cloaked men following leisurely.

* * *

"You're sure she's there?" a tall, cloaked figure asked.

"Yes," a smaller one replied. He fidgeted nervously under the intense stare of the taller man, wishing he had decided to become a ninja, and not an inn-owner. 'Cause ninja's didn't get pushed around- they were the ones that did the pushing.

"If you're lying," the man threatened, lowering his hood and showing his face.

The inn-keeper took in his pale skin, shaggy hair, and his dark eyes. The threat shone in their black depths. Mesmerized by the black eyes, he only managed to nod, before the tall man pulled up his hood and away from the inn-keeper.

"Do not tell anyone that you saw me here." He bit out, before he turned and walked away, blending in with the night.

The inn-keeper never moved from his spot, his eyes following the dark shape into the darker night.

Behind him, another shape emerged from the darkness. "You told him?"

"Yes," the man replied, dazed.

"Good." The second shape, clearly female, grinned. A cloak, more of a scarf than anything, blew around her form, and the light from the inn caught on pink armor.

She walked away with a satisfied step, content to follow in the tall man's footsteps.

* * *

"Normally, I'd be a little more dressed up for the occasion," Sasori said, nimbly dodging Naruto's rushed attack. Thin wires wrapped across the trees like a spider's nest, and he rested on them lightly. "However I didn't feel the need for such artillery- when I only need a finger to defeat you."

Naruto roared in outrage, before summoning more clones, and attacking again.

Sakura, several trees away, heard Naruto's roar of rage, and wondered what Sasori had said to make him so angry. She was only catching fleeting glimpses of him as he darted about the trees, and had to constantly dodge small explosives. As she was chased through the trees, she caught a glimpse of ninja wire, strung through the trees like a net. An idea too good to ignore popped into her head, and she quickly set about creating a clone and substituting herself so she could begin. Deidara was a member of the Akatsuki after all, and wouldn't be fooled for long.

* * *

Kagome growled, spinning and dodging inky black tentacles that came from a shadow to her right. Naraku was more manipulative than ever- and it seemed that he was mixing ink and shadow together for a better attack.

"Kagome!" InuYasha's voice caught her by surprise, and Kagome spun around, in time to see InuYasha's blade, Tetsusaiga, smash to the ground, cutting Orochimaru in half. However, the halves reattached themselves, and disappeared into the ground.

"What are you doing?" Kagome cried, angrily. "I told you to back the others up!"

"It looked like you were the one who needed a little back up," InuYasha said smugly, and Kagome spun around him, hacking another tentacle from the shadows. They were back to back, and InuYasha backed up until he could feel Kagome's warm body against his.

"This is just like old times, eh?" InuYasha grinned, cracking his neck.

"This is just like every time, when you don't follow orders." Kagome snapped back, but even InuYasha could hear the grin in her voice. "I've got Naraku." She said.

"Then snakey's all mine," InuYasha replied, and they repelled off each other at the same time, striking their opponents with wide, arced strikes of blue and gold.

* * *

Gaara frowned. If it was one thing these ninja were good at, it was evading attacks. The girl he was fighting had red hair, and kept dancing around. She kept trying to raise a flute to her mouth, but his gut instincts told him not to let her do it.

She continuously dodged his sand, and so each time he only stopped her flute from reaching her mouth. Gaara was so focused on stopping this girl that he didn't realize that power was building up in his arms. It came to his attention when he felt a familiar pain at his fingertips, and claws ripped through his freshly healed skin. He felt power surge into his legs, and right after strengthening his sand armour, he launched himself at Tayuya, claws still dripping blood.

Kankuro, who until then had been fighting a strange guy with four arms, watched for a moment, rather confused at his brother's head on attack. He had been experiencing the same problems… his enemy seemed to be dodging all his attacks. Switching himself with Karasu, he slipped into the cover of the trees, and set to making a trap that would stop the four-armed freak.

* * *

Baki placed his eldest student, Temari, down gingerly. A gash ran from the top of her eyebrow down to the base of her jaw, narrowly missing her eye, and just passing the corner of her mouth. She would need medical attention as soon as possible, or else the wound would most likely scar. Temari groaned, reentering the conscious world.

"Let me up," she growled, her hand searching for her fan. Fingers curled around the familiar wooden handle. "I'm going to slit that second face right off his face."

"You are in no condition for fighting now. Stay here, and rest a moment," he held his hand against her shoulder a moment longer, giving her a stern eyed glare.

Temari frowned, and looked away. As Baki disappeared amongst the surrounding trees, she busied herself with analyzing her injuries. Her ribs were a little tender- the tree she had hit earlier wasn't very forgiving. She also suspected that she had sprained her shoulder, but she didn't linger on it long. Blood was dripping into her eye, and it _stung._ Licking her lips, a familiar metal tang answered her action. Her lip was split.

"Damn," she grumbled, wiping her face with the hem of her shirt. "Blood's a bitch to wash."

"Not if you know how," a voice chimed, light and musical. "Need a hand?"

Temari looked up to see amused red eyes watching her from the tree line. Team 13's strange sensei was watching her as she hovered in mid air, sitting on a giant feather.

"Not unless you can heal this;" Temari responded, strapping her fan back onto her back. "I need to get back in there,"

Kagura smirked then, her hand snapping shut a metal fan that Temari hadn't noticed earlier. It was a pale metal, and it shone gently in the sun, illuminating it barely from her white kimono. She fluttered to the ground, the feather shrinking and disappearing. Temari noticed offhandedly that she wore white feathers in her hair. A green glow surrounded hands topped with deadly looking nails, painted the colour of blood. Temari felt the cut on her face stitch itself up, and her ribs strengthen. Taking a deep breath, it felt like a weight had been removed from her chest.

"Your shoulder will still be a little stiff," Kagura spoke, "But it shouldn't be too bad if you stretch it a little before throwing that thing around," she nodded at Temari's fan, snapping her own open and shut in a distracted manner. Temari bit back a sneer. The woman had just healed her, after all.

A ripping sound alerted the wind-users of a tree being ripped out of the ground, followed by Kankuro's panicked yell. "Fu—You can rip trees out of the ground!" It wasn't a question.

Another thunderous sound followed- "You can _throw_ trees-!" Which in turn, was followed by more distracted cursing, though Temari wasn't overly surprised. Her brother had quite the potty-mouth. When she turned around, the red-eyed woman was gone.

"Thanks," she called, but her words were lost on the wind.

* * *

Sasuke tensed, looking around for the fish-faced freak. He was currently hiding in a bush, his clones all but gone. He had succeeded in tricking Kisame several times, sending him after a clone, but it seemed that Kisame was getting wise to his plot.

No sooner had he thought it, a twig cracked, followed by the whistling of a blade through the air. Leaping up the side of a tree, Sasuke watched as the bush he had just been residing in was decimated. Damn.

"Come on, fodder," Kisame laughed as he twirled Samehada to rid it of leaves. "Don't waste my time, now… I could always be doing more important things."

"Like what?" Sasuke snapped, jumping at the fish faced man. Shuriken, clutched between each of his fingers, were attached to wire, which in turn, was currently flying around him wildly. All he had to do was get that stupid sword out of his hands…

Throwing them, he quickly followed with a fireball jutsu, encasing the both the shuriken and wire in fire. Kisame dodged, but a blade he had not seen snagged his pant leg, which quickly caught on fire.

"Damn it!" he snarled. Thrusting Samehada against a tree, he quickly doused himself before the flame spread. Sasuke, however, used that moment to hide behind the tree, and substitute the blade with a rather large log. He then cast a quick illusion on the log-branch, to make it look like the blade.

Kisame, seemingly none the wiser, picked up the log blade, and stalked off. "I've had enough of fucking _fodder_," he growled under his breath. "Let Sasori and Deidara deal with this shit."

Sasuke watched, shocked, as Kisame strode away, muttering under his breath. Was he giving up…? Looking down at the blade beside him, Sasuke couldn't help but feel repulsed by the evil it seemed to ooze. Better not touch it.

A crash made him tense, however, and he followed the noise to the right. Smoke filtered through the trees, and Sasuke saw Sakura stumbling away from the debris, leaves and twigs in her hair.

"Sasuke!" she cried, relieved. She pulled him into the cover of the trees, and held a hand to her lips for a moment, looking around her carefully. He watched her, taking in the bruises and scrapes that were blossoming across her face and arms. She was taking a beating. He wasn't so well off himself, though- he wouldn't lie. He was pretty sure his head was bleeding, somewhere in the depths of his hair.

"Listen," she whispered. "I've got a trap set up, but he won't budge. We've got to get him over to it, and help Naruto!"

"Where?" he whispered. Sakura pointed northwest. He nodded in understanding.

"All right. Listen," he murmered, conducting a quick plan on the fly. Sakura listened intently, and for once, stared at him without hearts in her eyes.

* * *

A twig cracked, and Kakashi stiffened. He hated fighting Itachi- it always managed to seem like he was being hunted by a jungle cat. He was currently hiding underneath a rather massive tree, in spaces created by its roots. He was concealed by growth, rather than illusion, in hope that Itachi wouldn't be able to see through it.

A close was panting high above him, in the trees, waiting for Itachi, waiting to serve it's purpose as a distraction. Footsteps padded lightly into the clearing, and through holes in the grass and leaves, Kakashi watched as Itachi scanned the clearing warily.

He stood still for a moment, his back to the tree, his clone, and himself for only a second, before he disappeared from Kakashi's sight, and a poof signaled the destruction of his clone.

Kakashi grimaced, struggling to control his breathing; to calm it. He didn't have much chakra left- it was easier to smother, and hide from Itachi's keen eyesight. However, it wouldn't do if something else gave him away.

"Itachi!" a voice growled. Itachi reappeared on the ground, giving Kakashi a view of his shapeless profile. Not even a hair on his head seemed ruffled. Kakashi cursed him mentally.

"Kisame," Itachi acknowledged. "What is the problem? Have you dispatched of my brother that easily?"

"Brother," Kisame mumbled murderously. "I've seen the resemblance. He lit me on fire! Just let Sasori and Deidara take care of business. This is a waste of time, and you know it."

Itachi seemed pleased at the news of Kisame's close encounter with flame. However, it was only noticeable for a moment, before his voice turned colder. "It would seem he is progressing well, then. Remember, I told you not to engage,"

Kisame glared at Itachi, but he turned as if he had not seen the look. "And by the way, that is not your sword that is wrapped on your back."

Kisame stiffened, and ripped the wrappings away to reveal he had wound them around a hefty branch. "…!" his rage rendered no words. He heaved the branch at the tree Kakashi was beneath, and it splintered several roots above his concealed head, shaking the tree.

"Let us depart, then, and return to fight another day." Itachi said this quietly, more for Kakashi's benefit than anything. Sending a pointed look in his direction, Kakashi flinched. Had he known where he was hiding, all along?

As soon as he deemed it safe to unearth himself, he did so, wiping himself down. Luckily, he was only bruised and battered- he had no open wounds. However, he was lower on chakra than he had been in a long time, and had no energy.

"Then you should take a couple of these," a voice chimed. Spinning around, Kakashi watched as a strange woman in a white patterned kimono floated to the ground on a feather. She tossed him chakra pills.

Looking at the little round pills for a moment, he shifted his gaze upwards again, only to find that she had disappeared again. "What's your name…?"

His words were mere whispers on the wind. He felt a smile tug the corner of his mouth.

* * *

Naruto growled at the red head, two puppets partially blocking his view. Sasori chuckled at the boy's anger, and twitched his fingers. The puppets lurched forwards, and Naruto shuffled backwards, eye scanning the decimated area looking for something to use for his advantage.

However, a whoosh of wind stopped him in his tracks as the pair of puppets were whipped off the ground and off to the left. A smug pair of purple eyes assessed the situation, the wire attaching the puppets to Sasori peeking through his fist.

"Who are you? What have you done with my puppets?" Sasori questioned, glaring at the newcomer. Naruto looked up gratefully. Miroku, he recalled, watching him cut the wires with a blade.

"You won't be seeing them again," he smiled. However, his eyes were cold- the purple icy. "They've been crushed into oblivion."

"How dare you!" Sasori growled, furious. "Destroying my creations-"

"That's enough." He spoke, his voice hard. A second wind ripped through the clearing again, almost knocking an unaware Sasori off his feet. "Now, join them."

* * *

InuYasha swung Tetsusaiga downwards in an arc, but Orochimaru had already twisted out of the way, his neck curling obscenely. It made him want to barf.

"You should really take better care of your hair," he chided, his head getting a good look at his cropped silver mop from behind. InuYasha snarled, swinging around only for the man to slither away.

"Shut up, you girly freak!" he growled. "Stop slithering and fight!"

"Little snarky, aren't you?"

"I've had a bad day."

"Well, it seems like it's about to get worse;" he said, looking to the left with a smug smirk. InuYasha followed his gaze, eyebrows creasing in thinly controlled anger. Kagome had set several trees on fire, and he could smell the smoke.

"Shut up," he growled, slashing once more in Orochimaru's direction, before returning to Kagome's side before she did something else she'd regret.

Kagome was panting, her arms alight with blue fire. Naraku, similarly, was panting, his arms dripping with both ink and blood, singed, and his sword in pieces.

"Kagome, are you-?"

"I'm under control," she hissed. Her forehead, bulging uncomfortably, said otherwise.

"Kagome," he started, but Kagome cut him off.

"_Shut up!"_

"Now now, Kagome-chan." Naraku chuckled. "You shouldn't be so rude."

"_Filth!"_ Kagome snarled, lunging with her arms extended. InuYasha could see the claws that had emerged, blood and ink dripping from them.

Naraku dodged- but even InuYasha could see it was slow. His haori was caught, and a long rip traveled up the sleeve, showing his pale arm, bruising starting to begin.

"It seems, Kagome-chan," Naraku hissed unpleasantly, "That we will have to continue this another day."

Orochimaru watched Naraku with a smug look. "Calling it a day?"

"So it would seem," Naraku snarled in response, a look of loathing clear on his face. "Temporarily, I must assure."

"They always are," Orochimaru countered, pushing off from the tree he was leaning on. "I believe we have some matters to… discuss. I will adjourn as well."

Kagome, still panting from exertion, watched both men warily. These lulls in battle happened often- neither side defeated, only temporarily put at bay. He'd be back…

Orochimaru whistled, a shrill sound, before he disappeared with Naraku. His trio, all bleeding, appeared before him, and disappeared as well.

Kagome allowed her shoulders to slump then, and she sunk to the ground. InuYasha sheathed Tetsusaiga with a deft, familiar motion, and scooped her up.

"The Akatsuki isn't gone yet," she murmered. "But I'm just so tired."

"Miroku is dealing with them now," InuYasha replied, striding in the loudest direction. "I'm sure our… new friends have fended well enough themselves."

"There's only two of them left," Kagome nodded, squinting into the trees. "Miroku is fighting the puppeteer,"

InuYasha snorted. "I hope he loses some hair,"

Kagome managed to smile.

* * *

Gaara felt the claws and fangs retract, sliding back and changing with a tremor. Slowly, control was returned to him, and he tensed, before rising to a standing position. His sand curled up his back, returning to his gourd.

_Never do that again, _he growled, though Shukaku remained silent. Kankuro emerged from the treeline, followed by a battered Temari. Looking at the bloodstain on her shirt, he sent her a questioning look.

"I'm fine," she waved it off. Baki joined them, silently, gesturing towards where the last battle was still being fought. It was strange that the Sound Four had decided to retreat- but Gaara knew that it had been done so wisely. They would regroup and return.

"What's happening now?" he questioned, looking at Baki's back, before turning to his siblings.

"Naruto and Miroku are fighting with one of the Akatsuki members," Temari said. "Sakura, Sasuke, and 13's sensei are after the other one."

"And Kagome…?" Kankuro questioned, speaking the words that ran through Gaara's mind.

"Dunno," Temari shrugged. "Baki-sensei hasn't seen them."

Gaara felt an unfamiliar emotion snake through his gut.

* * *

Sakura watched, Sasuke by her side, as the a strange woman floating in the air duked it out with the blonde bomber. They were both floating in mid air, sending waves of attacks at each other.

As Deidara send waves of small creations at her, the woman swished her wrist, flicking her fan, and decimated them with thin, pearlescent crescent-shaped blades. It seemed to be at a standstill, until a red-headed figure was thrown through the air from below the tree line, and landed with a crouch on the back of his partner's bird.

"Itachi and Kisame are gone," Sasori growled. "I believe it's time we took our leave as well."

"You're just saying that because you're getting tossed around like one of your dolls, un." Deidara replied, snarky.

"As if you're any better off," Sasori replied, gesturing to the smug wind witch who was floating a little ways off.

"For now, un." Deidara replied, letting off a rather large explosion. When the smoke cleared, they were gone.

"Miroku!" a voice called. Sakura and Sasuke rose from their crouched position to see InuYasha bounding forwards with Kagome firmly in his arms.

"Sakura!" Another voice echoed, as Naruto popped out of the trees, landing in front of them. His orange jacket had been torn almost to shreds, and clung to his frame. His black shirt was dirty. Sakura noticed that he had gotten taller, and more defined. She felt blood rush to her cheeks.

"You're okay, then?" she questioned, looking concerned.

"More or less," Naruto laughed, scratching the back of his head. "The purple guy, Miroku," he nodded to where he was in deep conversation with his teammates and sensei. "Helped out an awful lot. Ah- Gaara!" his attention was drawn by his red-head friend approaching with his own team.

Kakashi finally poofed into the clearing, his eyes straying from his team to the strange one that was still deep in conversation a little ways off. "We'll have to bring them with us," he paused, looking at Gaara. "You're welcome to visit the city, for medical help and a rest,"

Gaara nodded. "We accept." Looking around, he realized that Baki had disappeared. He noted that Kagome's sensei was gone too.

Kakashi nodded, before striding over to where Kagome, InuYasha, and Miroku sat, examining their wounds.

"We would like you to return to Konoha," Kakashi said. "I hope you don't object."

InuYasha looked up at the silver-haired ninja, about to retort, when Kagome's hand, still in his lap, silenced him.

"Of course," she smiled thinly. "I suppose explanations are in order."

**tbc**

* * *

**********EDITED: 05/12/11**  



	5. Living Arrangements

**A/N:** I'd just like to apologize for how long this has taken me to post...! I had most of it done and sitting around, but my attention was taken by other things, so many times... anyhow, I would like to point out that yes, this chapter is short. I do have the whole story planned, and it is simply a matter of writing them all, now, but the next few are probably going to be shorter than the others, and more likely to contain filler-type material, as they're simply required to further the plot in the long run.

I would also like to thank **Thyme Spirit **for the motivation that I needed to continue working on SotS! It was, and will always be my first brainchild... and I'm determined to see it through to the end! So thanks for the kind words and the encouragement, as well as all the reviews from my readers. You guys are the reason this is updated today!

* * *

**Siblings of the Sand – Chapter Four**

**Living Arrangements**

**ancient-relic**

Kagome scanned the sides of the path as they approached Konoha. The whole area was surrounded by trees and shrubbery, with the exception of this main path that they were walking on, which was so well worn it was almost as hard as rock. The city itself was surrounded by massive walls and gates, with the large symbol for fire adorning the gateway. Guards were hidden amongst the wall, though Kagome could feel their energy signatures flickering gently in the afternoon sun. Turning away from her surroundings, she instead focused on her new companions.

From the city they were about to enter, the strange silver-haired Jounin, Hatake Kakashi. He seemed to be ignorant and lazy, but Kagome knew better. Jounin was not a title to be lightly earned; that much was for certain, but she could not get over why he kept so much of his face covered. She noticed how his fingers kept twitching, his attention being drawn to a pouch on his hip. He wanted something in that pouch… but what?

The Jounin's team was certainly made up of an odd bunch; a pink haired girl, a blond haired boy, and a dark haired Uchiha. Focusing first on the youngest member of the Uchiha clan, Kagome scrutinized him carefully. Dark hair flopped messily atop his head, hanging over his face and standing up straight at the back. He was her age, she knew. He was quiet and somber, but his aura was a deep, dark hue, suggesting at his inner turmoil. Kagome could just guess what was rubbing salt in his wounds. She smiled.

The pink haired girl was just that; pink. The feminine colour was laced throughout her visage and her aura, and Kagome could see the strength and intelligence that she exuded. However, despite the potential she possessed, Kagome also noticed how she walked slightly behind the males on her team, how she keep her gaze low, how her step seemed muted. Perhaps being on an all male team had stunted her confidence.

And the blond; ah, the blond. He had instantly captured Kagome's attention the minute she had been dragged from her unconscious. His aura was a beautiful fiery shade, dancing magnificently not unlike Gaara's and her own. She knew without thinking what that meant; and she focused on his aura, noting the concentration around his stomach where a seal had likely been placed to seal the demon inside of him. Naruto, she believed his name was. Kagome made a mental note to do some more snooping about this boy, because as he was a host, she would need to ensure that he played his part in her final plans.

"Kagome," a voice whispered to her. Miroku.

"What?" she replied, tone low but irritable. Suddenly all she really felt like doing was sleeping. It _had_ been a while since she'd had such a vigorous day, but she wasn't out of shape… was she?

"Pay attention. This next part is important!"

Kagome frowned, but made sure to watch where she was, doing her best to pick out landmarks as they walked towards the center of the city where the Hokage Tower was situated.

"So," a voice chimed to her left. Kagome turned to find the blond boy staring at her rather curiously. "Your name is Kagome, huh?"

Kagome stared at the boy, rather bewildered for a moment at his upfront question. "Yes, Naruto."

"Hey!" he grinned. "You know my name too!"

Kagome merely chuckled in response.

"So Kagome, where are you from? I've never seen you before, but Gaara seems to know you and stuff."

"I'm from Suna," Kagome replied after a moment's thought. "It would make sense that Gaara would know me and you wouldn't though, would it not? Both Gaara and I are of Sand, and you are from Konoha."

"I suppose." Naruto said, a little sheepish. He hadn't known she was from Suna too… "But wouldn't I have seen you at the Chunin exams then?"

"I believe you're making several assumptions." Kagome replied amiably, stretching her hands up to hold them behind her head. "Gaara and I do not know each other. We were just… acquainted earlier today. You are also assuming I'm a Genin."

"So you're not?" he questioned, honestly curious.

"Technically…" Kagome sheepishly smiled as she replied. "I've never passed the Chunin exam. But then again, I was never one for rules and technicalities."

Kagome gave him a wide grin, her green eyes laughing. Naruto couldn't help but smile back.

"What're those two grinning about?" InuYasha huffed.

"What's this?" Miroku chirped. "What's this? Do I sense _jealousy? _A tad of _resentment_, perhaps?"

"Shut your trap, pervert." InuYasha replied with a snarl. He was in no mood for Miroku's pussy-footing. Instead, he directed his somber glare to that yellow-haired kid's back, wishing he had a kekkai genkai that allowed him to cause bodily harm to others with his eyes.

* * *

The trek to the Hokage's office wasn't a long one, despite the size of the city. After ducking down several alleys, and turning down side roads, the group emerged in front of the tower in less than half an hour. InuYasha was moaning, and Miroku was silent; that was normal. The shine in Miroku's eyes, however, while normal just didn't seem to belong.

"Now is not the time for shenanigans." Kagome whispered, poking her teammate in the side.

"Who said anything?" Miroku shot her an innocent look, but Kagome knew better. Kagura gave the two a sharp look, and Miroku winced as soon as her back was turned. Kagome simply giggled.

"_Ahem,_" a voice announced. "This way to see Tsunade, please. Would the seven from Suna please approach first?"

Kagura led the way, her team following obediently behind her while leaving Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro to follow behind. Kakashi and his team flanked behind them as they marched up the stairs. The silence among the group had changed from comfortable to tense in less than seconds.

Tsunade's assistant, Shizune, knocked lightly on the great wooden doors before pushing one open and beckoning them forward. As the ninja from Suna stepped into the room, a blonde head peered around a teetering pile of papers to watch them.

"Shizune?"

"The ninjas from Suna, Hokage-sama." Shizune replied, bowing before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

Kagome looked around the room, taking in the polished wooden walls and floors. The room was spacious but simple, sparsely decorated. A large desk took up a decent portion of the room, and mostly hid the Hokage from view; although the many piles of paper on and around the desk added to that as well.

She noted that there were no hidden ninja anywhere in the room- although there were some a ways away on the roof, and some in the hall outside. It seemed the Hokage liked her privacy. Either that, or she was over confident in her abilities, unaware of the powers that stood before her… Kagome was inclined to assume the woman was more intelligent than that however, for it took more than just sheer ability to be the ruler of the most successful ninja village in the current ninja world.

"Greetings," the Hokage spoke as she moved from behind her desk to rest against the front, so all could see her clearly. "I am the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure, Tsunade. I've met some of you before," she paused, looking pointedly at Gaara and his siblings, before turning her scrutinizing gaze on Kagura and her team. "but you, I have not. Please introduce yourselves."

"My name is Kagura no Awaikaze, Hokage-sama." Kagura gave Tsunade a deep, formal bow. "We are from the third generation of Sunagakure, Cell 13. My pupils, Kagome, InuYasha, and Miroku."

The three bowed as Kagura introduced them, Kagome demure, InuYasha disinterested, and Miroku in awe of the Hokage's massive…..presence.

"Am I correct to believe that your team is the one responsible for the destruction that occurred earlier?" Tsunade questioned, giving the three young ones a glance over, before turning her attention to Kagura.

"To some extent, Hokage-sama." Kagura dipped her head, folding her hands into the long sleeves of her kimono. "We were attacked by several notable figures-"

"Attacked?" Tsunade's eyebrows shot up.

"Yes, the criminal organization known as the Akatsuki, as well as the ex-nin of Konoha, Orochimaru." Kagura continued. "There was a third as well, a dark secretive man by the name of Naraku."

Tsunade cursed under her breath, returning to the other side of her desk and rifling through some papers. "Jiriaya, that bumbling moron…" she muttered. "Why wasn't I informed of any of that activity?"

"_Oi!"_ a voice called from outside. "_Baa-chan!_ This is taking _foreeeeeverrr! _Are you done yet?"

"NA-RU-TO!" Tsunade growled, slamming her fist on the desk, sending the tallest pile of papers fluttering to the ground. "Stop interrupting important meetings! And quit calling me baa-chan, gaki!"

Naruto made a grunt of protest, as there were sounds of a scuffle from outside the doors before one of them slammed open and the exuberant young ninja scrambled into the room.

"Baa-chan! We were attacked from three sides. Someone is after Gaara's team and Kagome's team!"

Kagura looked mildly affronted at being ignored, but after a glance at Kagome, a soft smile spread across her face. The girl looked surprised at being singled out by the boy, and a tendril of realization made its way across the back of her mind. _How interesting… I am most curious to see how this will turn out…_

Gaara's gaze shifted from Kagome to Naruto as the boy began bickering with Tsunade, who bopped him on the head. Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura came into the room, all looking unsurprised at the behaviour of the Hokage and Naruto.

"Sorry, Hokage-sama, I tried to stop him," Kakashi's words were lackluster and anything but contrite.

"You lazy bum," Tsunade dismissed Kakashi with a wave of her hand. "I'm sure you did. Now listen here, all of you!"

Naruto stopped squawking, and sidled over to stand with his team.

"If there are three powerful criminal organizations uniting, then we have a very serious problem on our hands. Orochimaru has been quiet for a long time, and kept himself and his village out of trouble. I highly doubt that he's doing anything with the Akatsuki, as he was once a member, but this third figure, Naraku, is an unknown to Konoha. Any information you have on him will be taken as a sign of allegiance and trust between us," Tsunade directed the last bit to Kagura.

"Understood," Kagura nodded. "We would like to seek asylum here until the situation is controlled, and we offer full cooperation in any means in exchange. I will also be operating on behalf of Gaara, Temari and Kankuro in their sensei's absence, who was forced to return to Suna."

"Your request for refuge is accepted," Tsunade. "I will consider you all as independent of Suna until I hear from the Kazekage. However, for security reasons I will be forced to split you up to house you."

Tsunade moved behind her desk, and rifled through a drawer until she procured a large manila folder. Opening it, she shuffled through several papers and booklets until she found the one she was looking for.

"Since the rookie nine are familiar with Gaara and his team, I will be assigning them as guards for the period of refuge. One ninja from Konoha will be responsible for one ninja from Suna, and will submit reports at my request. Any questions?"

When no one spoke up, Tsunade continued.

"Sasuke Uchiha… I am assigning you to Gaara of the Sand." A tense silence fell over the room as both Gaara and Sasuke stiffened.

"Hey baa-chan, why can't Gaara room with me? We get along _waaaaaay_ better." Naruto complained, breaking the silence.

"_Because,_ gaki," Tsunade glared at him, "I said so. Why do you have to question everything I do, eh?"

"I'm just practicing," Naruto smiled cheekily, "for when I'm Hokage, right? I need to know why you do the things you do." He put his hands behind his head and gave her a wide grin.

"You cocky little brat," Tsunade shook her head. "Let's see how diplomatic you can be, then. You will be responsible for…" she glanced at Kagura's team, before her gaze settled on Kagome, who was watching Naruto curiously. "…Kagome, was it?"

At hearing her name called, Kagome's attention was back on the Hokage instantly. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"H-hey…." Naruto's face was pink. "Are you sure it's okay? I mean, she's a _girl…_"

"Do girls still have cooties?" Tsunade teased, making Naruto splutter. "I'm sure you'll manage. This is something you'll have to be prepared for, after all. As Hokage, you'll need to be prepared for such things. Now, I don't want to hear another word about it, and I had better not hear from Kagome that you've been anything but polite and gentlemanly, _do you understand?_"

"Y-yeah," Naruto gulped, his eyes wide and his face still pink as she glanced at Kagome out of the corner of his eye. He looked away when she smiled and gave him a wave.

"And just to be fair, Sakura, I'd like you to be responsible for Miroku." Tsunade looked to her young apprentice. Kagura, InuYasha and Kagome all tensed, while a gleeful look spread across Miroku's face. "I trust there won't be any issues regarding that?"

"No, Hokage-sama," Sakura bowed politely. "We have a spare room, and I am _more than capable_," her eyes flashed dangerously, and Miroku's look turned to a sheepish grin.

"Excellent." Tsunade smiled genially. "Now Temari, I will contact the Hyuuga's about you, they have plenty of space. However, since I am splitting you all up, Kankuro, I will contact the Nara household about finding you some space." The Suna nin bowed, not daring to speak a word.

"And that leaves… InuYasha?" Tsunade looked up to the bare-footed, silver-haired boy. He gave a wide smile and a bow, his amber eyes curious and wild. A flash of inspiration made Tsunade grin. "I believe the Inuzuka's would be glad to have you."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." InuYasha said politely as Kagome stepped on his toe.

"Shall I go and fetch Hinata, Kiba and Shikamaru?" Kakashi offered, moving towards the window.

"Not so fast, Hatake," Tsunade ground out. "You're not just getting off… since your team are all graciously taking on house-guests, you shall as well. Please look after Kagura well, as I will have the two of you share and trade information regarding the current issues at hand."

Kakashi's shoulders slumped in defeat ever so slightly, as he replied "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Good!" Tsunade clapped her hands together and smiled. "SHIZUNE!" she shouted, catching everyone off guard.

"Yes?" her assistant poked her head through the open doorway.

"Fetch me Shikamaru, Kiba and Hinata immediately."

"They are already on their way, Hokage-sama." Shizune replied. "I have taken the liberty of dispatching several messengers to their homes already."

"Thank you," Tsunade replied, waving her assistant away. "Everyone is dismissed until further notice. Cell 7, you are to remain within the village while responsible for your charges. I will contact you in several days with a summons when more information is prepared. Are there any questions?"

Again, when no one spoke up, Tsunade returned to the other side of her desk. "Very well. You may all go, and please, if anyone needs medical attention feel free to stop by the hospital on your way home. Now, get out of my office!"

The ninja all shuffled out, Kagura leaving her students with an unspoken warning of '_behave'_ before disappearing out the window. Kakashi gave his own students a stern look before grudgingly vanishing after her.

Outside, Shizune directed InuYasha, Temari and Kankuro over to the waiting room to wait for Shikamaru, Kiba, and Hinata.

"The rest of you are free to go," Shizune smiled. "Please enjoy your stay in Konoha!"

"Thank you," Kagome smiled, before giving Gaara one final glance as she moved towards Naruto.

"Hello," Kagome said slyly, sticking her hand out to the boy. "We met on the wrong foot, it seems. Thank you in advance for taking care of me," she fluttered her eyes slightly, and gave him a cute smile.

Naruto's face went bright red and he looked away as he stuck his hand out. Kagome shook it gently, and Naruto sputtered. "N-no problem, really."

Gaara watched this interaction with careful scrutiny. He immediately didn't like the game Kagome appeared to be playing… Purposefully making Naruto uncomfortable. However, he found Naruto's boyish reaction equally as distasteful, and forced himself to look away. It wasn't his business if a real relationship were to develop between them or not… and if Naruto was foolish enough to let himself get played, then it served him right.

Despite these rational thoughts, something irrational and unfamiliar twined its way through them, making Gaara take one last glance at Kagome and Naruto as he followed a surly Sasuke out of the complex.

_**It's called jealousy, dear boy.**_ Shukaku stirred, his voice smug.

_I do not suffer from it,_ Gaara replied. _Leave me alone._

Shukaku's haunting laugh echoed through Gaara's head as he turned his back on Kagome and Naruto and followed Sasuke out into the streets of Konoha.

**tbc.**


End file.
